Emoluments Clause Means No Airplane for Trump Without Congressional Consent
May 21, 2025
Few provisions of the Constitution speak with the clarity of the Emoluments Clause which, if obeyed by President Donald Trump, prohibits him from accepting a $400 million luxury Boeing 747-8 plane from Qatar, unless Congress grants its consent. Article I, Section 9, Clause 8, grounded in the fear of the Framers of the Constitution that office holders would be subject to foreign influence and bribery, declares: “No title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
The Framers’ fear of corruption, born of their reading of history and their own experience, courses throughout the Constitution. Years before the Constitution was written, American ambassadors—John Adams and Ben Franklin—had accepted valuable gifts from foreign heads of state while they were stationed in Spain and France, respectively. Adams accepted a horse from the King of Spain, while Franklin received from King Louis XVI a gold snuff box encrusted with 408 diamonds. The gifts set off alarm bells and, when delegates gathered in Philadelphia, they expressed concerns about foreign influence and corruption. Gifts from foreign nations, history demonstrated, might create a conflict of interest for a president, if not an outright compromise of his integrity and commitment to America. Gouvernor Morris observed that the wealth of the English King did not deter his acceptance of a bribe from Louis XIV.
Foreign influence-based anti-corruption provisions define the Constitution. Article II, for example, requires the president to be a “natural-born citizen.” The Framers’ concern that foreign nations might influence the conduct of American foreign policy fueled their commitment to collective decision-making rather than unilateral executive control and, specifically, their decision to place the treaty power in the hands of both the Senate and the president, grounded on the premise that it is easier to bribe one man than an entire body of representatives. Indeed, so salient was the possibility of bribery that the Framers included it as an impeachable offense.
The term “emolument” was introduced in the 15th Century and signified, without interpretive debates, a “profit or gain arising from station, officer or employment.” Receipt of a gift from a foreign nation or head of state was uniformly recognized by the Framers as a violation of the Emoluments Clause, unless authorized by Congress. President Trump might easily seek consent from Congress but, as he knows, GOP members of both chambers have exhibited squeamishness about the propriety and wisdom of accepting from Qatar what would be the largest gift ever presented to a president.
Trump says it would be “stupid” to reject such a gift. Of course, the Framers weighed the question of “stupidity” in their discussion of the Emoluments Clause and decided the prohibition without congressional consent was a wise and an important means of protecting American integrity and national security. The wisdom of the matter is baked into the Constitution and the rule of law. The discretion to accept a foreign gift is not for Trump to decide, but rather for Congress. Thus, it should be emphasized, Trump’s quarrel is with George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, among others—men, in other words, whose remarks, decisions, and actions are not typically decried as “stupid.”
President Trump has said that he would like the luxury plane to be refitted to serve as an alternative to Air Force One, the cost of which, engineers estimate, would be $1 billion. The cost would be paid with taxpayer dollars. The plane would be donated to the defense department and then transferred to Trump’s presidential library. Once the plane is the property of his library, he would be free to use it as he chooses, for the most personal of reasons. Betrayal of the trust of the United States was an animating feature that shaped the design of the Constitution. Unlike other provisions of the Constitution, which have become the subject of debate because the use of language is not always crystal clear, the Emoluments Clause declares in straightforward terms that a president is required to seek congressional consent before accepting a foreign gift. South Dakota’s congressional delegation swore an oath to preserve and defend the Constitution. Members should be reminded of their constitutional obligations.
-David Adler