What we know about claims Biden admin started negotiations for Boeing 747 from Qatar
In mid-May 2025, claims (archived) circulated that the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden, who left office in January 2025, started negotiations with Qatar for the Boeing 747 plane the country offered to give to the U.S. Department of Defense in May 2025. News of the gift broke shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump embarked on a visit to Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries.
One X user wrote: "So let me get this straight the plane that was a gift from Qatar was actually a conversation that was started a year ago by the Biden administration with the Qataris? You literally can't make this stuff up."
The claims circulated alongside a video of U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., appearing on CNN's "The Lead" on May 14, 2025. During the appearance, Mullin said: "Here's what's interesting to me: What the media isn't telling you, what nobody is talking about, is the same 747 has been in negotiations for a year. The Biden administration is the one that started these conversations. It didn't start underneath the Trump administration."
The claim was most popular on X (archived) but also appeared on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived) and TikTok (archived).
However, it remained unclear whether Mullin's claim was true. Mullin didn't mention the Biden administration's involvement in discussions around the gifted plane in an interview the day before he appeared on "The Lead" or in a video (archived) posted on his X profile a few days after, which discussed the plane. A spokesperson from Mullin's office told Fox News Mullin learned of the alleged Biden administration involvement during a "recent conversation" with Qatari officials.
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani did not mention any Biden administration involvement with discussions during a recent interview with Fox News.
We reached out to the Department of Defense and the Qatari Government Communications Center to ask if they could confirm Mullin's claim. The Department of Defense referred us to the White House, which we contacted to ask the same question. We will update this story if we receive a response.
Seeing as the claim related to the Biden administration, we also reached out, through associated organizations, to former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his deputy secretaries David Nordquist and Kathleen Hicks to ask if they could confirm whether discussions around Qatar's offer of a Boeing 747 to the Department of Defense started during their time in office. We reached out to Mullin's office to ask the senator to elaborate on how he backed his claim. We await replies to our queries.
On May 18, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent repeated Mullin's claim on NBC's "Meet the Press" (time-code 25:12), referencing the senator's CNN interview. We reached out to the Treasury to ask how they knew Mullin's claim was true and await a reply.
Mullin didn't clarify how he knew that negotiations for the Qatari-gifted Boeing 747 started under the Biden administration during his May 14 CNN appearance. Notably, when CNN quizzed several Oklahoma Republicans about reports of the gifted plane on May 13 — the day before Mullin appeared on "The Lead" — Mullin made no mention of his claim that negotiations started under Biden.
In a video discussing Trump's trade deals on his tour of the Middle East and the Qatari plane offer posted to X on May 17, Mullin dismissed concerns about the U.S. receiving the plane but didn't repeat his May 14 claim.
According to a spokesperson for Mullin's office cited in a Fox News report, Mullin learned about the Biden administration's involvement in the discussions around gifting the Boeing 747 after he was privy to "a recent conversation with the Qataris." Snopes has not independently verified this statement.
That same report featured a Fox News interview with al-Thani, Qatar's prime minister. Al-Thani did not mention any Biden administration involvement with discussions around the proposal to gift the plane but did say that the proposal was part of a "cooperation" between Qatar and the U.S.
Al-Thani also said (time code 03:30): "It's really unfair accusations for Qatar is trying to buy influence. Throughout the last 25 years or 30 years you will see — you will find Qatar always by the side of the U.S. in many areas, in many things."
The U.S. Air Force signed a contract with Boeing in 2018, during Trump's first presidential term, to deliver two "presidential, mission ready aircraft" by 2024. According to a February 2025 New York Times report, Boeing was at least three years behind schedule.
Trump said on Truth Social on May 12, 2025, that the plane from the Qataris would "replace, the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily," indicating that it could be a holdover until Boeing delivers the contracted aircraft.
Snopes previously reported that the Trump administration confirmed it received an offer from Qatar for a Boeing 747-8 for use as Air Force One.
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs. "Air Force Formalizes Air Force One Replacement Deal with Contract to Boeing." Air Force, 19 July 2018, https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1579091/air-force-formalizes-air-force-one-replacement-deal-with-contract-to-boeing/.
Barrett, Morgan Rimmer, Manu Raju, Ted. "Some GOP Senators Express Misgivings over Qatari Jet, While Others Dismiss Concerns | CNN Politics." CNN, 13 May 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/12/politics/gop-senators-trump-plane-qatar.
Creitz, Charles. "Republican Says Biden Started Controversial Negotiations for Backup Air Force One." Fox News, 16 May 2025, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republican-says-biden-started-controversial-negotiations-backup-air-force-one.
Lipton, Eric, et al. "A Frustrated Trump Wants His New Air Force One Planes Pronto." New York Times, 19 Feb. 2025, https://archive.ph/qanHw.
"May 18 — Mike Pence, Sec. Scott Bessent and Sen. Chris Murphy." NBC News, https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/may-18-mike-pence-sec-scott-bessent-and-sen-chris-murphy-239841861543. Accessed 19 May 2025.
@realdonaldtrump. "So the Fact That the Department of Defense Is Getting a GIFT." Truth Social, 12 May 2025, https://archive.ph/NJ1E6.
@SenMullin. "The Weekly Wrap." X, 16 May 2025, https://x.com/SenMullin/status/1923464666056982614.
The Lead With Jake Tapper : CNNW : May 14, 2025 3:00pm-4:00pm PDT. 14 May 2025. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/CNNW_20250514_220000_The_Lead_With_Jake_Tapper.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Charlamagne says Swalwell should 'cut it the f--- out' with claim he didn't know of Biden's decline
Radio host Charlamagne Tha God reflected Thursday on his interview with Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., earlier this week, slamming the congressman's claim he was not aware of then-President Joe Biden's decline. Charlamagne grilled Swalwell on Tuesday's episode of his "The Breakfast Club" radio show. He said Democrats "got on television and pretended to act like everything was fine" and asked Swalwell, "Why should we ever trust the Democratic Party after they lied to us [for] so long about President Biden?" Swalwell defended himself and his fellow Democrats throughout the podcast, claiming, "I don't think many of us were behind the scenes, to be honest. I didn't spend much time with President Biden behind the scenes." On Thursday, Charlamagne shared his disgust with Swalwell's answers to his "Brilliant Idiots" co-host, comedian Andrew Schulz. Charlamagne Mocks Schumer, Jeffries And Newsom As He Wonders Who Should Lead Democratic Party "I kept asking him a simple question over and over, 'Why should we ever trust Democrats ever again, knowing that y'all upheld this lie?'" Charlamagne said. Read On The Fox News App After a clip of the interview, Schulz responded, "We clearly can't trust the Democrats that are currently in power that upheld the lie." "Anybody that wants to be the future of the party has to throw the Biden s--- under the bus," Charlamagne said. "Now, Eric and all of these guys are like, 'But we didn't know.' You gotta cut it the f--- out! You're actually around him!" Charlamagne, like Schulz, noted he has never met Biden in person, "but we've got eyes." "If they couldn't be honest about that, would they be honest about anything in the future?" Charlamagne asked, restating his point. He then addressed CNN host Jake Tapper and his new "Original Sin" book about the Biden cover-up as too little, too late. "You've got the same eyes, the same ears that I have. Way before that debate you had to see what we all were seeing," Charlamagne said, arguing journalists should have had the integrity to tell people what was going on. "Maybe that would have pushed him out way earlier." Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture Schulz, who interviewed Trump during the campaign, argued that there is a double standard when podcasters are hammered for not asking this or that question to a politician guest, but those same critics turn a blind eye to legacy media personalities who "literally protected the guy who was unfit for office." Charlamagne agreed, calling on people to hold CNN and MSNBC to the same standard they hold podcasters. "I think that, like, the legacy Democrats still believe that people believe them," Schulz said, drawing laughter from Charlamagne. "And they are the last ones that believe that." Fox News Digital reached out to Swalwell for article source: Charlamagne says Swalwell should 'cut it the f--- out' with claim he didn't know of Biden's decline
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Senator Who Called For Abrego Garcia's Return Uses White House's Words Against Trump
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) hit back at President Donald Trump's administration Friday after the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the Maryland father mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador — to U.S. soil. Van Hollen, who met with Abrego Garcia in April as the Trump administration refused to abide by a Supreme Court order to facilitate his return to the States, responded to a White House statement that asked him and others 'who defended this illegal criminal abuser to immediately apologize' to the man's 'victims.' 'You know, I will never apologize for defending the Constitution,' he told CNN's Anderson Cooper, who read part of the White House statement to Van Hollen. 'In fact, it's the Trump administration and all his cronies who should apologize to the country for putting us through this unnecessary situation and to Abrego Garcia for putting him through this situation and his family,' Van Hollen added. Garcia, perinitial reports later confirmed by Attorney General Pam Bondi in a press conference, landed back in the U.S. to face federal criminal charges that accuse him of transporting unauthorized migrants into the country. The move to charge Abrego Garcia reportedly led to the resignation of a top federal prosecutor in Tennessee, where the two-count indictment was filed in May and unsealed Friday. In the lead-up to the charges, Trump officials repeatedly stressed that Garcia was 'never' coming back from El Salvador, shifting the responsibility of facilitating such a move to that country. They also pushed claims that Abrego Garcia is a 'known member' of the MS-13 gang, allegations that his family and his attorneys have rejected. Van Hollen said the federal prosecutor's resignation 'raises questions' about the move to charge Abrego Garcia, but the focus should be on his return, adding that it's a 'good news story' for due process rights in America. 'The Trump administration should respect the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States. So really, it's President Trump who should apologize to the country for violating his oath to the Constitution,' he said. 'I'm glad in this moment, they are finally, finally doing what the Supreme Court said but they continue, Anderson, to violate the Constitution in many, many other [deportation] cases.' Senator Van Hollen: I will never apologize for defending the constitution. In fact, it's the Trump administration and all his cronies who should apologize to the country for putting us through this unnecessary situation, and to Abrego Garcia for putting him through this situation… — Acyn (@Acyn) June 7, 2025 Kilmar Abrego Garcia Has Returned To The United States Eric Swalwell Blasts Kristi Noem For 'Bulls**t' Over Abrego Garcia Tattoo Pic Trump Admin Reportedly Told Court A Different Story Than The Public In Sealed Communications
CNN
42 minutes ago
- CNN
Attorney for mistakenly deported man talks to Erin Burnett
Attorney for mistakenly deported man talks to Erin Burnett CNN's Erin Burnett talks with Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, attorney for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, who has been returned to the United States to face federal criminal charges. 02:37 - Source: CNN Automated CNN Shorts 10 videos Attorney for mistakenly deported man talks to Erin Burnett CNN's Erin Burnett talks with Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, attorney for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, who has been returned to the United States to face federal criminal charges. 02:37 - Source: CNN Fareed Zakaria predicts who will 'win' in Trump-Musk battle CNN's Fareed Zakaria discusses the bitter feud between President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk and who he predicts Republicans will side with in the end. 00:49 - Source: CNN Author on postpartum depression Author Sarah Hoover says post-partum depression made her feel 'monstrous' in unforeseen ways. She joined Isa's Book Club for an honest and unfiltered conversation about motherhood and her new memoir, 'The Motherload.' 00:40 - Source: CNN Lost DoorDash driver ends up on the tarmac at O'Hare Airport Surveillance video shows a delivery driver accidentally entering a 'unauthorized secured area' at Chicago O'Hare Airport, pulling up near parked planes before being stopped by airport staff, according to police. 00:33 - Source: CNN Activist Greta Thunberg discusses risky journey to Gaza delivering aid Greta Thunberg, Yasemin Acar and other activists are sailing to Gaza. The activist group they're apart of, The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, is attempting to bring aid and raise international awareness over the ongoing humanitarian crisis. In response, Israel says it is prepared for a 'wide range of scenarios.' 01:30 - Source: CNN Prosecutor warns women could face charges over miscarriages Amid a constantly changing reproductive landscape, West Virginia prosecutor Tom Truman is warning women who have miscarriages in his state that they could get in trouble with the law. Truman tells CNN's Pam Brown that although he personally wouldn't prosecute someone for a miscarriage, he made the suggestion out of an abundance of caution after hearing from other prosecutors and looking at the laws in West Virginia. 01:14 - Source: CNN Trump on Musk: 'The poor guy's got a problem' In a phone call with CNN's Dana Bash, President Donald Trump said he is 'not even thinking about' billionaire Elon Musk and won't be speaking to him in the near future. The comments come a day after Trump and Musk traded barbs on social media as their relationship deteriorated in spectacular public fashion. 00:43 - Source: CNN No aliens here: Research disputes possible 'signs of life' on another planet In response to hints of "biosignatures" found on a world called K2-18b, new research suggests there's a lot of uncertainty surrounding the exoplanet. CNN's Ashley Strickland reports on the ongoing scientific discourse around the search for extraterrestrial life. 00:43 - Source: CNN See reactions to the Trump-Musk feud See some reactions to the intense public feud that erupted between President Donald Trump and his one-time ally, billionaire Elon Musk. 01:05 - Source: CNN
