Lawsuit targets DOJ memo over Qatari plane deal

Source: Courthouse News Service

July 28, 2025


WASHINGTON (CN) — The Justice Department has refused to release a legal memorandum penned by Attorney General Pam Bondi justifying the acceptance of a $400 million Qatari luxury jet as “legally permissible,” according to a lawsuit filed Monday. The Trump administration announced in May it had accepted a Boeing 747-8 from Qatar to serve as Air Force One, with plans to eventually transfer it to Donald Trump’s presidential library.

First reported by the Washington Post, Qatar will send the plane to the Department of Defense as an unconditional "donation," though the deal itself has yet to be finalized. The Freedom of the Press Foundation requested Bondi’s memo under the Freedom of Information Act on May 15 but was told it wouldn’t be available until Jan. 25, 2027, based on the Justice Department’s average processing time of 620 days.

Lauren Harper, the Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy at the foundation, criticized the delay as unreasonable for a single, time-sensitive document in a statement.

“How many flights could Trump have taken on his new plane in the same amount of time it would have taken Justice to release this one document?” Harper said. “The government’s inability to administer FOIA makes it too easy for agencies to keep secrets, and nonexistent disclosure rules around donations to presidential libraries provide easy cover for bad actors and potential corruption.”

Read more: https://www.courthousenews.com/lawsuit-targets-doj-memo-over-qatari-plane-deal/