WASHINGTON — Amid an assassination threat from Iran, President Donald Trump secretly departed Turkey aboard an alternate military aircraft while the rest of the world thought he was on board Air Force One, according to a report published on Monday.
As he prepared to leave Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, Trump climbed the stairs of the old Air Force One while the television cameras filmed him as usual. The journalists who took their seats were instructed to close their window shades, a direction that caused chatter on social media at the time.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that Trump was being shuttled to an Air Force C-32A plane on an airport catering truck that is usually used to load food and supplies onto the presidential plane. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also boarded the plane, but he used the stairs of the jet. When that plane took off, Trump&#8217;s real location became unknown to most people in the world for a number of hours, according to the Post.
Air Force One, laden with White House staff and journalists, departed Turkey as a decoy, according to the Post. Publicly, the White House said that Trump left on the old Air Force One rather than the new Qatari plane, and Trump had announced on social media that was his plan amid media prattle over the safety of the new jet.
According to the Post, however, Trump&#8217;s secret departure was due to an Iranian assassination threat against Trump.
<div id="attachment_1154733" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-pulled-off-secret-plane-swap-using-catering-truck-after-iran-threat-report/turkey-us-nato-summit-defence-2" rel="attachment wp-att-1154733"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1154733" class="wp-image-1154733 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2284517912-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2284517912-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2284517912-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2284517912-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2284517912.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>US President Donald Trump disembarks from Air Force One upon his arrival at Etimesgut Air Base near Ankara, on July 7, 2026. (Photo by Doukan Keskinklç / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)</div>
The Washington Post sourced its reporting to a U.S. official, a person with knowledge of the president&#8217;s travel, and &#8220;corroborating material.&#8221; The White House did not confirm or deny the report to The Daily Wire, but it pointed to statements from Steven Cheung and the Air Force about the safety of the Qatari plane.
&#8220;The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,&#8221; Steven Cheung said in a statement, in response to The Daily Wire&#8217;s inquiry. &#8220;As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.&#8221;
The White House also directed The Daily Wire to a statement from the Air Force on the new Air Force One, praising the new aircraft as &#8220;safe, secure and equipped with the most advanced technologies necessary to meet the requirements of the presidential mission.&#8221;
&#8220;Those requirements were carefully crafted to prioritize mission over aesthetics, leaving much of the previous head of state interior layout minimally changed,&#8221; the Air Force said. &#8220;No risk was taken in security, safety or mission communications, but the collective team made trades on some of the less commonly used mission sets that Boeing must deliver to support the next 40 years.”

TURKEY-US-NATO-SUMMIT-DEFENCE

Trump Pulled Off Secret Plane Swap Using Catering Truck After Iran Threat: Report

Air Force One

Donald Trump

Iran

Qatar

Turkey

Washington Post

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that negotiators have his reached what he described as a &#8220;historic agreement&#8221; aimed at ending Hamas&#8217; control of Gaza, though the deal still awaits final approval from the terrorist group.
&#8220;Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza,&#8221; Trump wrote on Truth Social. &#8220;This is a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/07/30/hamas-weapons-gaza-deal-israel-board-peace">Axios</a> reported Thursday that U.S. officials and the Board of Peace believe Hamas could formally sign the agreement within days after agreeing to its terms during negotiations mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey. However, the outlet noted that Israeli officials and Western diplomats remain skeptical that Hamas will ultimately follow through with its commitments.
According to Trump, the deal would pave the way for Gaza to be governed by a new Palestinian government working alongside the Board of Peace while ensuring Israel &#8220;will have the security it deserves, with Gaza no longer used as a base for terror attacks.&#8221;
The president said the agreement would be implemented in phases as Hamas and other armed groups surrender their weapons, after which Israeli forces would withdraw and an international stabilization force would help a new Palestinian police force maintain security.
Under the reported framework, Hamas would surrender both heavy and light weapons over six to eight months, disclose the locations of tunnels and weapons depots, and allow a new Palestinian government to gradually assume control of Gaza. Israeli withdrawals would occur only after areas are independently verified as demilitarized, per the <a href="https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-904113">Jerusalem Post</a>.
Trump thanked Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey for their mediation efforts and praised his negotiating team, declaring that &#8220;the threat that emerged from Gaza on October 7 will NOT be allowed to rebuild.&#8221;
The negotiations remain ongoing, and officials caution that talks could still collapse before a final agreement is signed.
&nbsp;

Trump And Hamas

Trump Touts A ‘Historic’ Gaza Disarmament Agreement

Board of Peace

Egypt

Global Politics

Global power

Hamas

Israel

Palestine

Peace Deal

Peace negotiations

President Trump

Trump

Vice President JD Vance touched on something real in his three-hour sit-down with Joe Rogan: The United States has a problem with foreign governments trying to influence our government to make decisions in their own best interests rather than ours. The country the vice president picked to illustrate his point was Israel, our ally in an ongoing war with Iran and the only functioning democracy in the Middle East. It was an odd example, given the tiny amount Israel expends on lobbying in the U.S. A far more obvious example would be Qatar, which has used its vast oil wealth to massively affect U.S. politics, culture, and education. And as an Islamic monarchy that hosts the Hamas terror organization and the anti-American Al Jazeera network, one would think its influence at any scale would provoke more alarm.
Qatar is a small Gulf emirate with a population of roughly 3 million people, of whom 90% are expats and often abused or exploited migrant workers. The number of actual Qatari citizens is only a few hundred thousand. Yet this tiny country maintains one of the most active foreign diplomatic and financial footprints in the United States. This includes a new pledge of a $1.2 trillion “economic exchange” on top of the $400 billion already invested in American real estate, private equity, universities, and lobbying.
Qatar spends <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2025/11/21/inside-qatars-225-million-effort-to-court-us-policymakers-and-press/">roughly a quarter-billion dollars</a> annually on a sprawling network of 88 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)-registered lobbying and public-relations firms. This money funds everything from congressional staffer junkets to Doha to paid influencer trips designed to launder the emirate&#8217;s disreputable image. <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/in_focus/3916768/what-to-know-qatar-web-of-influence/">Justice Department records</a> document <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/in_focus/3916768/what-to-know-qatar-web-of-influence/">thousands of political communications</a> by Qatari foreign agents since 2020, reaching the offices of two-thirds of Congress. Those same agents <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/investigations/3420993/qatar-lobbying-foreign-agents-frequently-donate-congressional-offices/">donate hundreds of thousands of dollars</a> to the elected officials in those very offices they’re paid to influence.
Qatar is also the single largest foreign funder of American higher education.
It poured more than <a href="https://www.jpost.com/international/article-886508">$1.1 billion</a> into U.S. universities in 2025 alone, <a href="https://freebeacon.com/campus/qatar-already-the-largest-foreign-financier-of-us-universities-tripled-its-funding-in-2025/">more than triple its 2024 total</a>. A Qatari royal sits on Georgetown&#8217;s governing board. By comparison, <a href="https://www.jns.org/u.s.-news/ed-department-portal-finds-qatar-highest-source-of-foreign-funding-to-us-colleges-universities">Israel’s gifts and contracts</a> to universities totaled just $342 million between 2014 and 2024, barely one-third of what Qatar spent in a single year. The pro-Hamas riots that swept campuses after October 7 did not happen in a vacuum. Years of Qatari money built the very departments and centers incubating this radicalism and spreading anti-Semitic propaganda.
The money is only part of the story. Doha hosted terrorist organization Hamas&#8217;s political bureau for more than a decade, and its fanatical leaders lived openly in five-star comfort through the October 7 massacre and the war that followed. When Israel struck Hamas&#8217;s negotiators in Doha in September 2025, Qatar&#8217;s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/world/qatar-denounces-israel-ahead-of-summit-over-israeli-strike-on-doha-targeting-hamas-leaders">called</a> the Israeli strike “state terrorism” and “reckless and treacherous aggression,” and demanded the international community “punish Israel.” He had no interest in punishing Hamas for its brutal terrorist attacks.
Rather than snuff out the Qatari influence operation, the administration embraces it. In May 2025, the Pentagon accepted Qatar’s “gift” of a luxury <a href="https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2025-10-10/hegseth-qatar-air-base-idaho-19382457.html">$400 million Boeing 747</a> to serve as an interim Air Force One. Even worse, the aircraft will <a href="https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/idaho-press/qatari-air-force-facility-coming-to-mountain-home-air-force-base/277-0e8e701a-de60-4102-a721-00de106a8b60">transfer</a> to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation’s private ownership once his term ends.
The United States also agreed to allow Qatar to build a dedicated training facility at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, a privilege not granted to Israel. It will host Qatari F-15s and pilots.
Why is Doha&#8217;s stock so high in this administration? Follow the payroll. Multiple cabinet-<a href="https://quincyinst.org/research/soft-power-hard-influence-how-qatar-became-a-giant-in-washington/">level officials</a> (including former Attorney General Pam Bondi and current FBI Director Kash Patel) previously held consulting or lobbying roles on Qatar&#8217;s behalf. Jared Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, took in millions of dollars from Qatar. Qatar&#8217;s sovereign wealth fund bought the Park Lane Hotel in Manhattan from Steve Witkoff&#8217;s firm in 2023. It is outrageously unacceptable self-dealing.
Qatar markets itself as an indispensable peace broker between Iran and the U.S. In reality, the Memorandum of Understanding crumbled while Iran enjoyed a month’s respite to regroup and assert control over the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. is fully capable of being its own “mediator” with Iran and should exhibit more caution in routing our diplomacy through a country that has financed, hosted, and spread propaganda for terrorists.
Anyone truly concerned about foreign influence should denounce Qatar — the country that outspends every other nation on our universities 20-to-1, gifted the president a $400 million airplane, bought its way into the portfolios of the president&#8217;s own envoys and family (Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner), and supported Hamas terrorists. Those who single out Qatar’s regional foes instead are behaving suspiciously like Qatar-firsters.
***
Ali Holcomb is a national security fellow at Advancing American Freedom Foundation. Joel Griffith is a senior fellow at the Plymouth Institute for Free Enterprise at Advancing American Freedom Foundation.

Daily Life In Doha, Qatar

Anti-American Foreign Influence Comes From Qatar Not Israel

DW Opinion

Foreign influence

Jared Kushner

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani

A Texan’s time on the run came to an end this month when the FBI <a href="https://x.com/FBIDallas/status/2077037975007826390">extradited</a> him from Qatar to the United States. FBI Dallas coordinated with Qatari authorities to apprehend the suspect, a 28-year-old man allegedly involved in a sweeping money laundering network who has evaded justice since 2021. The story is an example of what the U.S.-Qatar partnership can achieve when it’s working as it should. However, the success does more to accentuate the partnership’s shortcomings than add a notch in its belt.
In August 2021, federal authorities <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtx/pr/101-indicted-transnational-cell-phone-trafficking-conspiracy">charged</a> 101 individuals allegedly involved in a “cell phone trafficking conspiracy” dubbed “Operation Cash Out.” A superseding indictment claimed that the suspects were part of a “multi-layered criminal organization” that sold nearly $100 million of stolen electronics to foreign import companies. One of the suspects, Abdullah Anwar, fled to Pakistan while awaiting trial. Eventually, he made his way to Qatar, where he landed in cuffs. Now in the United States, Anwar is <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtx/pr/dallas-county-man-has-been-extradited-qatar-united-states-face-charges-eastern?utm_source=chatgpt.com">facing charges</a> of “conspiracy to transport stolen property, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.”
Fugitives have sought refuge in Qatar for decades. Some have lived there openly. However, Anwar is one of the few publicly acknowledged extradition cases. The U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Qatar. But given the strength of the bilateral partnership and the high-profile offenders who seek refuge in Qatar, the relatively low arrest rate is surprising.
In 1996, then-FBI Director Louis Freeh <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/08/world/threats-responses-counterterrorism-qaeda-aide-slipped-away-long-before-sept-11.html">wrote</a> to Qatar’s foreign minister that he had “received disturbing information suggesting that” al-Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) had “again escaped the surveillance of your Security Services and that he appears to be aware of F.B.I. interest in him.” KSM had been living freely in Qatar, earning a government salary at the Ministry of Electricity and Water while plotting terrorist attacks. The FBI nearly nabbed him in 1996, but Qatari officials <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/08/world/threats-responses-counterterrorism-qaeda-aide-slipped-away-long-before-sept-11.html">reportedly </a>“tipped him off,” and he <a href="https://9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf">fled</a> to Pakistan before <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/hunting-barren-hills-133075">linking</a> up with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
Thirty years later, the episode is apparently water under the bridge. FBI Director Kash Patel <a href="https://x.com/MOI_QatarEn/status/1998388797973712919">signed</a> two Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with Qatar’s Ministry of Interior while in Doha in December 2025. The MoUs <a href="https://x.com/USEmbassyDoha/status/1998739396581879982">reflected</a> a “shared commitment to public safety and counterterrorism cooperation,” according to the U.S. Embassy in Qatar.
Law enforcement cooperation is occurring at the state level too. Former New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban visited Qatar twice in 2023 for meetings and to “observe and collaborate regarding security practices.” The Qatari government <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/08/01/us-news/qatar-paid-for-nypd-commissioners-middle-east-trips-after-adams-admin-was-mum-on-who-picked-up-tab/">reportedly</a> paid for both junkets. The next year, a delegation from Qatar’s Police Academy <a href="https://www.gulf-times.com/article/681699/qatar/police-academy-delegation-visits-us-military-and-police-institutions">visited</a> the New York Police Academy. Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux also <a href="https://www.wfaa.com/article/sports/soccer/world-cup/dallas-police-chief-daniel-comeaux-travels-to-qatar-for-world-cup-security-meetings/287-261db22b-86b2-445e-9bcc-e15b373a8f3d">traveled</a> to Qatar with a group of officers in August 2025 as Texas prepared to host games for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The mutual exchange of expertise would suggest that Qatar’s record has improved since the days of KSM’s escape. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Despite achieving Major Non-NATO Ally status, Qatar has continued to harbor terrorists and provide a haven to their private financiers. In one high-profile case, Doha brokered a prisoner swap that saw the United States free five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. The “Taliban 5” resettled in Qatar, where they were monitored by the government. Washington greenlit this arrangement presumably under the belief that Doha would exercise sufficient oversight. However, within a year of the exchange, American officials <a href="https://abcnews.com/Politics/taliban-travel-ban-extended-negotiations/story?id=31433083">told</a> the media that the Taliban 5 had “attempted to make contact with active members of the Taliban while under supervision from the Qataris.”
Hamas also sought shelter in Qatar, over 1,000 miles away from Gaza where the group’s leaders could amass personal <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/11/07/news/hamas-leaders-worth-11bn-live-luxury-lives-in-qatar/">fortunes</a> and incite violence at a safe distance from the bloodshed. While the U.S. government tolerated Hamas’ official presence in Doha, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-788543">reports</a> suggest that Qatar went so far as to train Hamas officers at its police academy as late as 2023. Hamas’s politburo watched the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel unfold from their offices in Doha. Many of them have since met their maker. Yet at least one senior chief is still kicking: Khaled Meshaal.
Meshal has resided in Qatar since 2012. He served as Hamas’s political chief before <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-elects-former-chief-meshaal-head-diaspora-office-2021-04-12/">becoming</a> the group’s de facto foreign minister in 2021. Former Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah once <a href="https://dohanews.co/qatar-fm-hamas-leader-remain-doha-dear-guest/">described</a> Meshaal as a “dear guest of Qatar,” and that sentiment continues. Meshaal appeared on stage at the 2026 Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, where he <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2026/02/al-jazeera-forum-qatar-hamas-khaled-mashaal/">celebrated</a> the October 7 massacre for having “brought the Palestinian cause back to the forefront of the world.”
Bizarrely, Qatar continues to platform Meshaal despite the fact that he <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-terrorism-charges-against-senior-leaders-hamas">faces</a> terrorism, murder conspiracy, and sanctions-evasion <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-terrorism-charges-against-senior-leaders-hamas">charges</a> in the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed those charges in September 2024, but Qatar evidently does not intend to extradite him. Nor has Washington pressed the Qataris to do so. There was a fleeting moment later in 2024 when it seemed Qatar was preparing to expel Hamas at the Biden administration’s <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/08/politics/qatar-hamas-doha-us-request">request</a>. Those reports were either <a href="https://x.com/MofaQatar_EN/status/1855322121989148692">untrue</a> or <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/qatar-denies-expelling-hamas-israel-trump">unrealized</a>, and there’s been little American pressure since. That is inexcusable.
If Anwar’s arrest is any indication, Qatar has the capacity to extradite defendants in cooperation with U.S. authorities. Meshaal’s continued impunity is therefore likely a matter of will rather than ability. There is little reason why Washington shouldn’t demand that Qatar extradite Meshaal and begin to flush the world’s most wanted from its territory. That should be a bare minimum ask from a country that purports to be a friend of the United States.
***
<a href="https://www.fdd.org/team/natalie-ecanow/">Natalie Ecanow</a> is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Follow Natalie on X <a href="https://x.com/NatalieEcanow">@NatalieEcanow</a>. Follow FDD on X <a href="https://x.com/FDD">@FDD</a>. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on foreign policy and national security

A Day In The Life Of Hamas Leader Khalid Mishal

Why Hasn’t Washington Pressed Qatar To Extradite Terrorists?

Abdullah Anwar

Doha

kash patel

Khaled Meshal

Khaled Sheikh Mohammed (KSM)

Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah

Osama bin Laden

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) vetoed a deal between Volkswagen and Rafael — an Israeli defense technology company — to utilize one of the auto company’s struggling plants that is at risk of closing, according to Bild, a German newspaper.
In late April, a prospective solution to save Volkswagen’s Osnabrück plant emerged when Volkswagen signed a letter of intent with Rafael to manufacture Iron Dome components for missile defense systems at the facility, with production scheduled to end next year, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/vw-investor-qatar-complicates-plant-deal-talks-with-israeli-arms-maker-sources-2026-06-17/">according</a> to Reuters.
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund opposed Volkswagen’s deal with Rafael to repurpose the plant, which has around 2,300 employees who are at risk of losing their jobs. 
The QIA holds major influence as Volkswagen’s third-largest shareholder, with 10.4% of the total share capital and 17% of Volkswagen’s voting rights, The Jerusalem Post <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-902126">reported</a>. 
The QIA vetoed the deal due to the hostility between Israel and Qatar, which would complicate Doha’s position in the Middle East’s conflict. Qatar has extensively supported Palestine and has no diplomatic ties to Israel. Instead, Qatar became a mediator for Israel and Hamas, where Hamas has a political office, according to Reuters.
In an attempt to find a solution, Lower Saxony, a German federal state and major Volkswagen shareholder, could join the collaboration ⁠between Volkswagen and Rafael, two sources told Reuters.
Olaf Lies, the State Premier of Lower Saxony and a member of Volkswagen&#8217;s supervisory board, declined to comment on QIA&#8217;s move but implored the auto company to find a long-term solution for the Osnabrück branch. 
“I ​expect the company to live up to this responsibility and present ​the announced decisions in a timely manner,” Lies told Reuters. “The state will provide constructive support wherever it is appropriate and possible.”

Qatari Money Threatens To Rob Hundreds Of Workers Of Their Jobs

Germany

Volkswagen

President Donald Trump departed Turkey aboard the older Air Force One instead of the newly retrofitted aircraft accepted from Qatar, prompting questions about why the president switched planes.
The White House <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/07/08/trump-air-force-one-nato-iran-qatar/20bb3bfc-7b0a-11f1-b194-f872dd4ec5aa_story.html">insisted</a> that the new aircraft is equipped with advanced security measures, as reports suggested that the older presidential jet&#8217;s defense capabilities may have factored into the decision.
Journalist Andrew Feinberg wrote on X that the “<a href="https://x.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/2074838259427876963">most likely reason</a>” for the change was that the former Qatari jet “doesn’t have the self-defense capabilities needed when flying from Turkey while in a shooting war with Iran.”
Former CIA station chief and Fox News contributor <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/person/h/daniel-hoffman">Daniel Hoffman</a> said the switch reminded him of threat briefings he delivered to senior U.S. officials. 
“Credible threats required us to take countermeasures,” Hoffman said, adding that the older Air Force One reportedly has enhanced security capabilities that the newer aircraft does not. “I clearly think this is part of the president’s calculus.”
Later <a href="https://abcnews.com/Politics/secret-service-urged-trump-depart-turkey-air-force/story?id=134606227">reports</a> indicated that the Secret Service urged Trump to leave Turkey on the older Air Force One as a security precaution, citing sources familiar with the matter. The reports also said Trump told reporters the switch had nothing to do with security.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/07/08/trump-air-force-one-nato-iran-qatar/20bb3bfc-7b0a-11f1-b194-f872dd4ec5aa_story.html">said</a> the Qatari Boeing 747 is &#8220;a state of the art aircraft&#8221; equipped with &#8220;high-level security protocols&#8221; and added that the administration uses &#8220;every tool at our disposal, including distraction and misdirection,&#8221; to protect the president.  
The speculation came as Trump said Iran considers him its &#8220;number one target” amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran. 
Trump pushed back on the idea that the change was security-related. When asked what security concern caused the switch, he <a href="https://x.com/Acyn/status/2075007925496803741">said</a>, “We sent it a little early so the base could see the plane.”
A reporter then asked why passengers were told to close their window shades.
“Because you’re on a dangerous flight,” Trump replied.
Trump later said on <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116886666473252596">Truth Social</a> that he sent the newer aircraft ahead to RAF Mildenhall, a U.S.-operated air base in Suffolk, England, where American service members toured the plane before Trump boarded it for the flight back to Washington.

CHINA-US-DIPLOMACY

Questions Swirl Around Security Lapses For New Qatari Air Force One

Air and Space

Executive

World

Qatar’s massive footprint in American education is facing renewed scrutiny as watchdogs warn that the Gulf state has poured billions into U.S. universities while disclosure laws remain weak, incomplete, and unevenly enforced.
The question is no longer simply whether schools are reporting foreign gifts. Critics say the more serious issue is what the money is buying: branch campuses, endowed chairs, research centers, faculty pipelines, academic programming, and influence over how future American leaders are taught to think about Israel, terrorism, political Islam, and U.S. foreign policy.
A <a href="https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/article-900026">Jerusalem Post piece</a> by Dr. Charles Asher Small, founding director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, argued that Congress already has the evidence but has failed to act. He pointed to the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1048/all-info">DETERRENT Act</a>, which has passed the House twice with bipartisan support but stalled in the Senate.
The bill would lower the foreign gift reporting threshold from $250,000 to $50,000, require disclosure of gifts to individual faculty and staff, create a public database, and impose financial penalties for non-compliance.
Small compared the problem to China’s Confucius Institutes, citing a 2019 Senate investigation that found nearly 70% of U.S. schools receiving more than $250,000 from Chinese government-linked Confucius Institutes failed to properly report the money. He said ISGAP’s “Follow the Money” findings revealed billions in Middle Eastern funding, primarily from Qatar, to U.S. universities that had not been reported as required. A later Department of Education review identified more than $6.5 billion in previously unreported foreign funding at a small number of institutions.
The scale of Qatar’s influence reaches far beyond campuses. A June Foundation for Defense of Democracies report estimated that Qatar has directed at least $400 billion into the United States since 2000, or roughly $1.2 million per Qatari citizen. The report called that figure a conservative estimate and said Qatari government or White House estimates could exceed $1.2 trillion.
FDD said Qatar, a country of about 330,000 citizens, has surpassed China as the largest foreign funder of American higher education by approximately $2 billion. The report cited the Department of Education’s foreign funding dashboard showing Qatar has pumped $8.8 billion into U.S. higher education since 2001.
That money is drawing attention because Qatar is not just another foreign investor. FDD described Doha as a patron of Hamas, the Taliban, and the Muslim Brotherhood, and said the country’s state-owned Al Jazeera Media Network amplifies Islamist propaganda. A June report from JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy similarly noted that Hamas’s political bureau has operated from Doha under Qatari state protection since 2012.
Those concerns have become harder to dismiss since the anti-Israel protest wave that followed Hamas’s October 7 attack. Universities were criticized for failing to shut down radical encampments, enforce campus rules, or protect Jewish students as anti-Israel activism turned into campus occupations.
A January Middle East Forum report focused on Georgetown University, which established its Qatar campus in 2005 through a partnership with the Qatar Foundation and has extended the arrangement through 2035. According to the report, Georgetown received more than <a href="https://www.meforum.org/mef-reports/qatars-multidimensional-takeover-of-georgetown-university">$971 million</a> from Qatar over 20 years through 76 contracts.
The report said the funding supported not only Georgetown’s Doha campus, but also faculty, scholarships, research initiatives, and endowed chairs on the Washington, D.C., campus, including Qatari-funded chairs in Muslim Societies, the History of Islam, and Indian Politics.
JINSA’s June 2026 <a href="https://jinsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Qatar-Higher-Influence.pdf">report</a> reviewed nearly 900 pages of documents released by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, including framework agreements, governance charters, intellectual property provisions, confidentiality agreements, and a direct contract between Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Georgetown’s Bridge Initiative.
According to JINSA, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed a June 13, 2024, contract with Georgetown providing a <a href="https://jinsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Qatar-Higher-Influence.pdf">$630,000 grant</a>, split into three annual installments of $210,000, to support Bridge Initiative research related to Islamophobia. The report said the agreement required conferences on the “Globalization of Islamophobia” and called for consultation with a parallel Qatar-supported initiative on sessions, themes, and speakers.
JINSA also raised concerns about Northwestern University in Qatar’s relationship with Al Jazeera. According to the report, a 2013 memorandum covered research cooperation, journalism programs, scholarships, training opportunities, employment pathways for Northwestern Qatar graduates into Al Jazeera, and training by Northwestern faculty for Al Jazeera leadership.
The money appears to have flowed into the same academic space where the post-October 7 crisis later erupted, including Middle East studies, Islamophobia research, Israel and Palestine programming, anti-colonial scholarship, and foreign policy training. These fields shape how students understand terrorism, Israel, America’s role in the world, and the language used to describe political violence.
<a href="https://isgap.org/follow-the-money/">ISGAP has also said</a> Students for Justice in Palestine and National Students for Justice in Palestine helped lead the post-October 7 explosion of campus antisemitism. The group said its prior research found <a href="https://isgap.org/follow-the-money/">SJP had a direct connection to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood</a> and links to organizations that support or previously supported violence and terror.
Other watchdogs have raised similar concerns about the protest network. <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/students-justice-palestine-sjp">The ADL says </a>National SJP and local SJP chapters justified or glorified the Hamas-led October 7 attack and later became central organizers of the 2024 campus encampments. <a href="https://www.axios.com/local/tampa-bay/2023/10/25/desantis-shuts-down-usf-uf-pro-palestinian-groups">Axios reported</a> that Florida officials moved to deactivate university SJP chapters after citing a National SJP toolkit that framed Hamas’s attack as part of “the resistance” and told Palestinian students in exile they were “PART of this movement.”
A Jerusalem Post analysis reported that U.S. student protests against Israel were “orchestrated by Qatar-funded groups” and described the demonstrations as organized and generously funded. ISGAP has separately argued that foreign money from Qatar has had a direct effect on increasing antisemitic and anti-democratic activity at American universities.

Protest Against Anti Semitism and NSJP Conference At UCLA

Qatar’s Billions Raise New Questions About Foreign Influence On Campus

Education

President Trump&#8217;s America First is about America being strong at home and abroad.
President Trump remains America First. He spent his weekend warning Iran not to screw with the United States or our allies, or there would be consequences. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spent his weekend working the phones to help destroy the Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance spent the weekend looking weak in front of the Qataris, the Pakistanis, and most of all, the Iranians. I&#8217;ve never seen a weaker look from a Republican politician. It is not peace through strength. It is war through weakness.
Get the amateurs back on the bench and the professionals back in the game.
President Trump spent the weekend trying to reestablish U.S. deterrence: &#8220;Peace through strength,&#8221; which he&#8217;s been pushing for literally decades. Rubio spent the weekend trying to end the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah over in Lebanon, because that&#8217;s part of peace through strength. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/the-ben-shapiro-show-episode-2450?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-981859" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
I want the war in Iran to end. I&#8217;ve said for months that it is not worth waging war if you don&#8217;t win it. The ends were spelled out by the administration from the outset: No nuclear enrichment, no ballistic missiles, no support of terrorism, and the Strait of Hormuz open.
Those were the goals. Those are still the goals. Even if we pretend those are not the goals, those are still the goals.
The administration wants oil prices to go down because of the economic impact of high prices heading into the midterms. The only way to keep the Strait of Hormuz durably open is through strength, because otherwise the Iranians will jerk us around, as they have been doing for 50 years.
Over the weekend, President Trump appeared to know that.
Vance, not so much.
For America’s sake, I would love for the vice president to do well abroad. I would love the whole administration to do well. I would love every administration and every politician in every administration to do well by representing American power with peace through strength.
But the lack of American strength in the room in Switzerland over the weekend was devastating. When America has the most dominant military on the entire globe, there is simply no excuse for American weakness.
Over the weekend, the president became highly annoyed with the Iranians. Why? Because they keep threatening to shut the Strait of Hormuz, and because they keep activating their friends in the terrorist group Hezbollah to attack Israeli troops.
As I have said, the goal for Iran — sensing weakness in the United States — is to ratchet up conflict in Lebanon by activating its terror group, Hezbollah, to attack the Israelis in the hope that the Israelis would then retaliate. And then Iran would say they&#8217;re shutting the Strait of Hormuz, and it&#8217;s all the Israelis&#8217; fault. They would hope that President Trump would then yell at the Israelis.
That&#8217;s a win-win for the Iranians, because either they end up with Israel taking casualties in Lebanon and in Israel, or they end up with the administration pressuring the Israelis, the Israelis refusing, and then alienation between the United States and Israel, which is what Iran wants. That is the entire game for them.
It&#8217;s not a complex game. It&#8217;s a very simple game. But the president had had enough of it over the weekend. On Sunday, according to Fox News, President Trump said in an interview that he had spoken with Iranian officials on Saturday night and warned them not to close the strait. “You close it and you won&#8217;t have a country,” he warned. “You won&#8217;t even make it back to your f*cking country if you close the Strait.”
The president wrote on Truth Social, “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid proxies in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don&#8217;t, we&#8217;ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder.”
This is a Trumpian foreign policy. If you screw with us, if you screw with our allies, you get hit. If you interfere with American interests in the Strait of Hormuz, you get hit. We&#8217;re not going to just hand you things.
Marco Rubio has been very quiet. I think he&#8217;s been quiet about the memorandum of understanding because it is poorly written and because the vice president did a bad job of negotiating it. Rubio is actively managing the situation in Lebanon, attempting to put together a coalition against Hezbollah between Israel and the Lebanese, while not including Syria. Rubio is a pro.
But there is one member of the administration who did something that was pretty humiliating for the United States over the weekend. And that was the vice president.
Quick hypothetical coming up in a moment.
Let me be clear: I don&#8217;t care about the names in these situations. I just care about the policy. I want America to be strong. I want America to show greater interest in the Middle East. I want an open Strait of Hormuz. I want Iran defenestrated as an actual military threat to the United States.
So I don&#8217;t care who the person is who&#8217;s doing the dumb thing. If they&#8217;re doing a dumb thing, they should be called out for doing a dumb and weak thing.
Here&#8217;s the hypothetical: I&#8217;m just going to switch the names. Vice President Kamala Harris heads over to Switzerland for negotiations with Iran. There, she says that she loves Pakistan.
She then takes a picture, being given orders by an Iranian cutout. Then she emerges from negotiations with a deconfliction agreement that actually doesn&#8217;t de-escalate anything and doesn&#8217;t include any of the parties to the actual conflict.
But hey, at least she also got stiffed on camera by a bunch of foreign politicians.
Okay, so that didn&#8217;t happen to Kamala Harris. (Although it wouldn&#8217;t be surprising if it did.)
It did happen, but to Vice President JD Vance, which makes it like a thousand times worse. Why? Because it would not be surprising if Kamala Harris were weak. It would not be surprising if Kamala Harris looked as though she were being given the runaround by America&#8217;s enemies.
But I would not expect this from Donald Trump&#8217;s vice president.
You would also expect this kind of weakness from Democrats desperate to avoid any sort of conflict with the Iranians. But we just spent months destroying Iran&#8217;s air force, navy, ballistic missile facilities, nuclear facilities, and army.
This is like going to a meeting with the Japanese and bowing before them between Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We already clocked the hell out of them. What are we doing here?
Vance spent the weekend getting dunked on.
First of all, the Iranian delegation refused a joint photo with the United States team. We should have refused a joint photo with them. They are murderers. But it was the United States that apparently wanted a joint photo.
Normally, when it comes to protocol, the people who want it more show up early. The people who are the big dogs show up late. The United States was there waiting around. The vice president was waiting around for the Iranians to show up, and they stiffed him on a photo op.
And then they showed up late.
The negotiators from Qatar walked right by Vance, but they greeted their Pakistani friends.
It got worse. Qatar is a cutout for Iran and works hand-in-glove with it; they share oil fields with Iran. Thus, they feel indebted to the Iranians and are constantly doing their work. That is the reason why Hamas was stationed in Qatar for literally a decade.
Qatar is one party. Pakistan is another party, an Islamist state with nuclear weapons, allied with the Chinese government. You had a Chinese cutout, an Iranian cutout, and the Iranians there, and the vice president holding a press conference in which he bragged about how Pakistan was awesome.
If the Democrats had done this, there would be screaming. Not a single word Vance said for the entire weekend would have been foreign coming out of the mouth of Barack Obama.
Peace through strength is what President Trump stands for.
And he didn’t get it.

The Inauguration Of Donald J. Trump As The 47th President

Replace Vance With Kamala And Read It Again

Ben Shapiro

China

Iran Nuclear Deal

JD Vance

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

Opinion

Pakistan

Trump Administration

For years, Qatar&#8217;s billions flowed into some of America&#8217;s most prestigious universities. Now, a new report argues the Islamic monarchy gained more than a foothold in American higher education in return, turning elite academic institutions into vehicles for Islamist propaganda.
Qatar used “complex contractual designs” with Northwestern University and Georgetown University to gain influence and borrow the universities’ prestige to advance “Islamist movements hostile to the United States and its allies,” according to a new <a href="https://jinsa.org/jinsa_report/qatar-higher-influence/">report</a> by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA).  
The findings add to growing concerns about Qatari influence in American higher education. Despite having just over 350,000 citizens, Qatar has spent more than $8.8 billion since 2001. It is the largest foreign donor to U.S. universities, according to the <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/06/03/mapping-qatars-400-billion-footprint-in-the-united-states/">Foundation for Defense of Democracies</a>. 
JINSA’s Hussein Aboubakr Mansour, drawing on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s 900 pages of contractual and institutional documentation on Qatari funding, said complex contractual designs approved by the university&#8217;s senior leadership allowed Qatar to acquire access to “intellectual property, governance deliberation, academic credentialing, and institutional reputation.” The funding structures enabled Qatar to acquire such partnerships to advance its national security interests, according to Mansour.
Mansour argues that Qatar&#8217;s Islamist agenda is reflected in its longstanding support for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, including hosting their leaders, providing financial backing, and amplifying their messaging through the state-funded Al Jazeera network.
While Qatar is a key U.S. partner that hosts the Al-Udeid Air Base and often acts as a regional mediator, critics contend it has also cultivated relationships with Islamist movements. In 2024, Georgetown University&#8217;s Qatar conference was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/georgetown-qatar-conference-will-feature-terrorist-linked-speakers">exposed</a> for hosting speakers linked to Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), both designated terrorist organizations by the United States.
While the contracts between Qatar and the American universities are not illegal, they bind “intellectual output of American academic institutions, including output generated with American taxpayer funding, to the development strategy of a foreign state,” Mansour said.
Mansour argues that Qatar masks its involvement through the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development, which presents itself as an educational nonprofit but functions as an extension of the Qatari state. The organization is headed by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the mother of the reigning Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and senior leadership is “drawn from the ruling family and its institutional extensions.”
The agreements establish joint advisory boards at both universities made up of university representatives and Qatar Foundation appointees. These boards review budgets, curriculum offerings, faculty and staff development, and reviews and comments on dean candidates. 
While the agreements describe the boards as &#8220;advisory and non-binding,&#8221; Mansour argues that their lack of formal authority actually insulates Qatari influence from accountability. 
“A body with decisional power could be held accountable for the decisions it makes, such as a blocked hire, a rejected curriculum, or a vetoed budget item,” Mansour said. “An advisory body that merely consults, reviews, and comments leaves no such record, but the effect is the same.”
University officials, he argues, understand who funds the campuses and that Qatar Foundation can terminate the partnerships, creating pressure to accommodate Qatari priorities.
The report also notes that the agreements establish admissions targets under which a majority of students at the Qatar campuses are expected to be Qatari citizens. Georgetown&#8217;s agreement sets a target of 60% Qatari nationals, while Northwestern&#8217;s sets a target of 70%.
Both Georgetown and Northwestern operate branch campuses in Doha, Qatar, where students can study abroad or earn full degrees. Mansour argues that Georgetown&#8217;s agreement requires most intellectual property created at the Doha campus to be jointly owned with Qatar Foundation and commercialized in ways that promote Qatar&#8217;s &#8220;knowledge-based economy.&#8221;
The report further argues that Qatar Foundation can acquire ownership interests or broad licensing rights even in certain research involving U.S. federal funding, raising questions about whether taxpayer-funded research could ultimately benefit a foreign state.
Mansour’s report highlights a 2024 agreement under which Qatar&#8217;s Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided Georgetown University&#8217;s Bridge Initiative with $630,000 to support research and conferences focused on Islamophobia.
According to Mansour, the funding allowed Qatar to shape conversations on a politically charged topic while cloaking those efforts in the credibility of a U.S. university.
“A state that does not permit its own citizens the civil liberties it funds an American university to advocate for in America is not engaged in human rights philanthropy,” Mansour said. “It is purchasing the institutional vocabulary and academic prestige of American civil rights and deploying them in service of a political category that aligns with its foreign policy objectives.”
Mansour argues that &#8220;Islamophobia&#8221; has increasingly been used not as a neutral academic concept but as a political tool to discourage criticism of Islamist movements and governments aligned with Qatar.
The report also points to a long-running partnership between Northwestern University&#8217;s Qatar campus and Al Jazeera Media Network, the state-funded media organization that has long been accused by critics of advancing Qatari foreign policy interests. According to Mansour, a 2013 memorandum of understanding between Northwestern and Al Jazeera established cooperation on research projects, journalism and media studies programs, scholarships and training for students, employment pathways for graduates into the Al Jazeera network, executive training for Al Jazeera leadership, and jointly organized conferences and workshops.
In 2020, the Justice Department concluded that AJ+, Al Jazeera&#8217;s U.S.-based affiliate, operates &#8220;at the direction and control&#8221; of the Qatari government and ordered it to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, an order the network has not complied with. The department also cited Al Jazeera&#8217;s editorial guidelines as evidence that the outlet sought to influence public attitudes about the Middle East, including by discouraging the use of terms such as &#8220;terrorist&#8221; and &#8220;terrorism&#8221; in its reporting.
Critics argue the partnership is particularly troubling given Al Jazeera&#8217;s history of favorable coverage toward Islamist movements, including Hamas. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has also <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/op_eds/2025/03/24/the-trump-administration-should-bring-al-jazeera-in-line-with-us-law/">pointed to</a> documents recovered in Gaza that Israeli officials say showed coordination between Al Jazeera and Hamas on media messaging. 
Along with Northwestern and Georgetown, Qatar has reportedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cope-academia-and-think-tanks-must-boycott-qatar">sought</a> to influence colleges such as Harvard, Texas A&amp;M, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, and Virginia Commonwealth through billions in funding.
Blake Schaper contributed to this report.

Georgetown-University-Protest-March-23

Qatar’s Billions In Campus Donations Come With A Dangerous Price

Qatar's Campus Cash Came With Strings Attached, Report Says

Al-Udeid Air Base

American Universities

Ivy League

President Donald Trump and White House officials are bidding farewell to the Boeing 747-200, known as Air Force One, which has transported U.S. presidents across the nation and around the world for more than three decades.
On Thursday, two White House officials said goodbye to the Air Force One jet after President Trump returned from the G7 summit in Europe. The farewell comes as the first of three aircraft being modified for the presidential role is expected to be delivered soon.
“The last ride,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung <a href="https://x.com/StevenCheung47/status/2067514778684162330?s=20">said on X</a>. “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
“THANK YOU,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino said, <a href="https://x.com/Scavino47/status/2067523503817977868?s=20">posting a video</a> of the aircraft, saying he has “been fortunate to fly around the world on this iconic plane for 5 1/2 years — of the 35 years it has been serving U.S. presidents.” 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I have been fortunate to fly around the world on this iconic plane for 5 1/2 years — of the 35 years it has been serving U.S. Presidents…
THANK YOU…
AIR FORCE ONE 2900🫡🇺🇸🦅 <a href="https://t.co/tnh8xYtZDU">pic.twitter.com/tnh8xYtZDU</a>
— Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) <a href="https://x.com/Scavino47/status/2067523503817977868?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
Air Force One is expected to be replaced by three Boeing 747-8s, including a luxury jet donated by the Qatari government that sparked a political firestorm. The so-called “flying palace” is estimated to be worth $400 million, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-defends-400-million-flying-palace-offered-as-gift-from-qatar">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/18/politics/white-house-staff-bids-farewell-to-planes-used-as-air-force-one-for-more-than-35-years">CNN reported</a> that the Qatari jet received significant modifications for its new role as Air Force One, including a major overhaul to equip it with the secure communications and security systems required for presidential travel.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The VC-25B Bridge aircraft has officially arrived at Joint Base Andrews!
More info: <a href="https://t.co/xhurcI0mjL">https://t.co/xhurcI0mjL</a> <a href="https://t.co/zyUpB99jqm">pic.twitter.com/zyUpB99jqm</a>
— U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) <a href="https://x.com/usairforce/status/2068038435114262809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2026</a></blockquote>
An <a href="https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4474728/vc-25b-bridge-program-completes-flight-testing-prepares-for-summer-rollout/">Air Force release</a> in May said the plane had officially completed modifications and was “on schedule to roll out in a new red, white, and blue livery this summer.”
The controversy erupted in May 2025 after multiple reports revealed that the Trump administration was in talks to accept a luxury jet from Qatar, a proposal that sparked bipartisan criticism.
Critics pounced on the president, arguing that gifts from Qatar — a nation that spends heavily to build influence in the United States — rarely come without strings attached.
Pro-Trump activist Laura Loomer <a href="https://x.com/LauraLoomer/status/1921615017138618439">urged</a> Trump not to accept the plane, saying, “This is really going to be such a stain on the admin if this is true.”
At the time, the White House <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-defends-400-million-flying-palace-offered-as-gift-from-qatar">said</a>: “Any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws.” 
Still, the president took to social media to blast the critics. 
“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA,” <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114492082555622686">Trump said.</a>
The first VC-25A, tail number 28000, flew as Air Force One for the first time on September 6, 1990, carrying President George H.W. Bush to Kansas, Florida, and back to Washington, D.C., <a href="https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104588/vc-25-air-force-one/">according to the Air Force</a>. A second VC-25A, tail number 29000, later carried multiple presidents on historic missions, including trips to Israel for the funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and became especially notable on September 11, 2001, when President George W. Bush was rushed to the jet after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center.
It remains unclear exactly when the Qatari jet being converted into a new Air Force One will arrive in Washington and enter service.

HLMl_bIXkAAfNRR

‘The Last Ride’: White House Bids Farewell To Air Force One

News

The revelations of improper conduct involving the International Criminal Court (ICC) continue to grow, with the Wall Street Journal recently breaking a story suggesting that Qatar promised to assist chief prosecutor Karim Khan if he brought charges against Israeli officials. Khan made a sudden rush to issue the indictments just as sexual assault accusations against him were coming to light. Qatar’s role makes the affair about more than one man’s alleged crimes – it is about the dangerousness and lack of accountability of the ICC as an institution.
Qatar is not an ICC member state. But it does host and sponsor Hamas, making its involvement with a prosecutor investigating the Gaza war deeply problematic. This may explain a strange aspect of the ICC’s arrest warrants. In addition to Israeli leaders, the ICC indicted Yahya Sinwar and two other top Hamas leaders in Gaza. It was gross moral equivalence equating Israeli leaders defending their people after the October 7 massacre with the masterminds of that crime.
The Court presented these parallel indictments as proof of its evenhandedness. Yet from the beginning, there was an obvious asymmetry: the Court indicted Israel’s top civilian leader, but ignored Khaled Mashaal and the rest of Hamas’s political leadership. When Israel mooted the warrants on Sinwar and Mohammed Deif by killing them during the Gaza war, Khan did not seek to restore balance by bringing new indictments against Hamas’s top leaders, who happen to be based in Qatar.
As the accusations against Khan began to mount, he argued it was a plot to weaken the Court, hinting at <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/icc-netanyahu-prosecutor-sexual-assault-israel-gaza-d9bedee3">Mossad involvement</a>. That appears to be, like so many charges against Israel, an exercise in projection. Qatar hired investigators in a failed attempt to discredit the employee who made the sexual assault allegations. Khan appears to have been right that there was a foreign intelligence operation surrounding these allegations, just not against him.
Khan specifically tied his warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the charges against him, urging his alleged victim to remain silent because it would undermine pending “Palestinian arrest warrants.” This, along with the emerging role of Qatar, makes it impossible to separate the scandal around Khan from the Court’s Gaza war indictments. Yet the Court has been silent about the Qatar revelations, a marked contrast to its public condemnation of a Trump administration executive order imposing sanctions on ICC officials as interference with its “independent and impartial work.”
The only action that the ICC has taken so far is disciplinary proceedings against Khan himself. The most that can happen is that he loses his job. His accuser never turned to the Dutch police because she said his official immunity would protect him. However, under the ICC’s rules, the judges could waive that immunity if they wished. The Court’s refusal to allow a criminal investigation of Khan, even as the scope of the scandal expands, demonstrates the institution&#8217;s political nature.
At the same time, the Court seems fully intent on proceeding with the Netanyahu prosecution. Such serious prosecutorial misconduct could, at least in the United States, lead to the dismissal of even factually substantiated criminal charges. Here, the evidence does not even show that the alleged crime (purposeful starvation of civilians) even occurred, let alone was committed by the accused. As the dust settles in Gaza, the lack of mass starvation becomes ever more evident.
An American prosecutor would be loath to try a case with such manifest prosecutorial misconduct (notably, senior court officials knew about the allegations against Khan at the time the indictments were made but kept it quiet for six months, when it leaked to the press). But Netanyahu is not facing a jury of his peers, but rather a panel of international judges who likely share the Court’s institutional culture.
Qatar’s involvement shows the ICC to be even more dangerous than its critics thought. The rap against the tribunal has long been that it acts like a global independent counsel – an unaccountable prosecutor with no democratic restraints. But even worse, it now appears that hostile states can coopt it as a political weapon in an ongoing conflict.
This illustrates the need for the Trump administration to take decisive action against the organization. The sanctions the Treasury Department has imposed on individual court officers have inconvenienced them but appear to have done little to fundamentally weaken the organization or change its trajectory. A body politically motivated enough to maintain the Israel warrants in the wake of the growing Khan fiasco will certainly retaliate against Trump and his top officials once they are out of office.
The administration should impose institution-wide sanctions on the tribunal and vigorously enforce them. The ICC recently got some good news as Peter Magyar, Hungary’s prime minister-elect, vowed to rejoin after it had become the first EU country to quit. Magyar prioritized the issue because he is seeking EU funding, and Brussels ties its financial support to adhering to its foreign policy. America must adopt the same tough approach, insisting that countries receiving benefits quit the Court. For Europe, pushing countries to join the ICC is a matter of ideology. For America, pushing back should be seen as a question of national security.
Eugene Kontorovich is a professor at George Mason University Scalia Law School and a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom.

NETHERLANDS-JUSTICE-ICC

The International Criminal Court Is In Bed With Our Enemies And It’s Time We Clean House

International Criminal Court

In a startling new development surrounding the International Criminal Court (ICC), a witness statement claims that the Qatari government promised to “look after” prosecutor Karim Khan if he moved forward with arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/karim-khan-icc-prosecutor-benjamin-netanyahu-qatar-israel-7b62d474?mod=hp_opin_pos_1">reports</a>.
The accusation, which is supported by audio recordings reviewed by investigators, suggests a potential quid pro quo agreement between the Gulf state and the ICC&#8217;s top prosecutor. According to the witness statement submitted to the FBI, the promise of state protection was made while Khan was reportedly hesitant to issue the warrants.
“I want to issue the warrant, but I’m terrified to do it,” Khan told intermediaries, according to a recorded conversation cited in the report.
“If you do it, then we’ll look after you,” a voice described as linked to the Qatari state responded, according to the recording.
These revelations add to a layer of geopolitical intrigue to the scandal already engulfing Khan, who took a leave of absence in May 2025 following allegations of sexual misconduct involving a subordinate. Khan has denied the accusations and described them as part of an “orchestrated campaign” to discredit him.
Investigators are also examining whether a Qatar-linked intelligence effort sought to discredit Khan&#8217;s accuser, according to the report. The operation, involving London-based firms Highgate and Elicius Intelligence, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov/06/qatar-linked-intelligence-operation-targeted-icc-prosecutor-karim-khan-alleged-victim">allegedly sought</a> to find &#8220;links&#8221; between the female accuser and Israeli intelligence.
Documents and recordings indicate the firms investigated whether the victim—a Malaysian Muslim lawyer—had a “Jewish grandmother” or a secret Israeli passport. They even scrutinized her husband’s former employment at a company with a kosher-food subsidiary, speculating that a rabbi associated with the firm could provide “cover employment” for an agent.
The witness statement claims the intelligence operation also targeted Tom Lynch, a senior American ICC official who first reported the assault allegation, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Investigators reportedly attempted to link Lynch to the “Israel political lobby” in Washington.
Khan has denied any knowledge of or involvement in the intelligence operations. His lawyer said Khan never discussed the warrants with Qatari officials prior to the warrants and “was not offered or given (and would not have sought or accepted) any ‘promise’ by any state to ‘look after’ him.”
The Qatari government has dismissed the allegations as &#8220;unfounded.&#8221;
According to the report, individuals involved in the recordings referred to their employer as &#8220;the client country&#8221; or &#8220;Q country,&#8221; with one manager reportedly clarifying: &#8220;No, it’s the state.&#8221;
The controversy comes as the ICC’s governing body has voted to advance disciplinary proceedings against Khan. A United Nations inquiry previously found a “factual basis” for the sexual misconduct claims and allegations of retaliation against staff.
As the Dutch counterterror agency (NCTV) interviews ICC officials who may have been targeted by the spying operation, the cloud over the court’s objectivity continues to darken. Critics argue that if the prosecutor’s legal decisions were influenced by promises of state protection, the integrity of the warrants against Israeli leaders—and the ICC itself—may be permanently compromised.

United Nations Security Council Meets On Ongoing War In Sudan

Qatar Promised To ‘Look After’ ICC Prosecutor If He Targeted Netanyahu, Witness Claims

Benjamin Netanyahu

Menu