US justice department sued over release of legal memo regarding Trump’s luxury jet gift from Qatar

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is facing a federal lawsuit for refusing to release a legal memorandum that reportedly cleared the way for Donald Trump’s acceptance of a $400m luxury aircraft from Qatar’s government.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation, represented by watchdog group American Oversight, filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in Washington DC’s federal district court after the justice department failed to produce the document despite granting expedited processing more than two months ago.

The president’s “deal to take a $400m luxury jet from a foreign government deserves full public scrutiny – not a stiff-arm from the Department of Justice”, American Oversight’s executive director, Chioma Chukwu, said in a press release. “This is precisely the kind of corrupt arrangement that public records laws are designed to expose.”

The case revisits Trump’s decision to accept the extravagant foreign gift: a luxury Boeing 747-8 jetliner dubbed a “palace in the sky”. Before the president’s frustrated base would start to call for the release of all Jeffrey Epstein files, followed by renewed scrutiny of the convicted sex offender’s friendship with Trump, what came to be known as “Qatar-gate” was one of the first symbols of the new administration that even stalwart Trump allies shook their heads at when the deal first emerged in May.

At the time, the US senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, warned the aircraft “poses significant espionage and surveillance problems”. The senator Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican, said she would “be checking for bugs”. Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, also a Republican, called accepting foreign gifts “never a good practice” that “threatens intelligence and national security”.

Democratic US House member Ritchie Torres called it a “flying grift” that violates the constitution’s emoluments clause prohibiting federal officials from accepting valuable foreign presents without congressional approval.

The memo at the center of the lawsuit was reportedly signed by the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, in May, concluding that accepting the aircraft was “legally permissible”, and the White House accepted the jet just days after it was completed. Bondi previously worked at Ballard Partners as a lobbyist for Qatar, a Gulf country that the Biden administration labeled a “major non-Nato ally” in 2022.

The aircraft is set to be retrofitted as a replacement Air Force One at significant taxpayer expense before ultimately being transferred to Trump’s private presidential library foundation when he leaves office. Aviation experts told NBC News at the time that converting the 13-year-old commercial jet into a functional Air Force One would cost well over $1bn and might only be completed after Trump’s presidency ends.

The timing has raised additional concerns, coming shortly after the Trump Organization secured a deal with Qatar for a luxury resort and golf course development outside Doha, the country’s capital. Questions persist about whether Qatar initiated the aircraft offer or responded to approaches from Trump’s team.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation submitted its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on 15 May. But the press release says the justice department estimated it would take more than 600 days to fulfill despite granting expedited processing.

No documents have been released and no updated timeline has been provided.

“It shouldn’t take 620 days to release a single, time-sensitive document,” said Lauren Harper, Freedom of the Press Foundation’s chair on government secrecy. “The government’s inability to administer FOIA makes it too easy for agencies to keep secrets.”

The Department of Justice did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.