Upon assuming office in January, the Pentagon contacted Boeing and learned that the company could not deliver the new jets intended to replace the aging presidential planes for another two years, according to the sources.

Eager for a quicker replacement, the Trump administration and the US Air Force began exploring alternative options. Concurrently, Trump instructed his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to compile a list of potential aircraft, a top White House official informed CNN.

After the Pentagon’s initial engagement with the company, Boeing provided US defence officials with a list of other Boeing clients around the world with planes that could work in the meantime, three of the sources said.

“And Qatar was one of the clients,” the second source familiar with the discussions said, adding the Pentagon “offered to buy the plane” and Qatar indicated it was willing to sell it.

The Pentagon had launched the discussions with Qatar after learning that the White House supported the idea, the third source familiar said, and Witkoff helped facilitate the initial conversations, the White House official said.

The third source recalled that the initial discussions were about leasing the plane, rather than buying it outright.

But Trump has repeatedly described the potential deal as a “gesture” or “contribution” from Qatar’s royal family. A “GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE,” he wrote on his social media site Truth Social. He said it would be a temporary replacement for Air Force One and given to his presidential library after he leaves office but denied he would fly in the plane then.

The details on the administration outreach sheds new light on the origins of the potential transfer of the jet, which provoked a political furor that threatened to overshadow Trump’s trip to the Middle East last week.

Democrats and several influential Republicans, who are normally staunch supporters the president, have said they oppose the potential deal on ethics grounds. Qatar has also faced a backlash, with Democratic politicians threatening to hold up weapons sales to the Gulf country.

Boeing is “very late with the plane,” Trump said in an interview last week with Fox News, “and Qatar heard about it, and he’s a great leader. And we were talking, and he said, ‘If I can help you, let me do that.’ And they had a plane.”

In February, Trump toured the Qatari plane with some aides when it was at the airport in Palm Beach, Florida, near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Afterwards, Trump remarked on how luxurious the plane is to people around him, CNN has reported. Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said at the time that Trump was on the plane “to check out the new hardware/technology.”

The Pentagon deferred questions to the White House. CNN has asked the White House, the Qatari embassy in Washington and a spokesperson for Boeing for comment.

Both Washington and Doha have emphasised that if the transfer happens, it will be conducted legally between Qatar’s Ministry of Defence and the US Department of Defence, a point repeated by the White House on Monday.

Lawyers are still hashing out the deal

The four people familiar with the discussions say the transaction is still being hashed out by lawyers on the two sides.

“From that time [the initial US outreach to Qatar] until today, the matter is still with the legal teams,” said the second source familiar with the discussions, “and no decision has been made at all.”

Reports have put the value of the plane around $US400 million ($620 milion), but two of the sources said that it has depreciated in value.

On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the potential transfer a “donation to our country,” saying Qatar’s royal family “has offered to donate this plane to the United States Air Force, where that donation will be accepted according to all legal and ethical obligations.”

During Trump’s Middle East trip, he said he “would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’ But it was, I thought it was a great gesture.”

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani did not confirm Trump’s claim of being approached by a Qatari official when asked by CNN’s Becky Anderson last Wednesday, saying: “It has nothing to do with personnel, whether it’s on the US side or the Qatari side.”

“This is a very simple government-to-government dealing when Ministry of Defense and Department of Defense are still exchanging the possibility of transferring one of our 747-8 to be used as Air Force One and it’s still under the legal review,” Al-Thani said in the interview.

“At the end of the day, if there is something that the US need and it’s completely legal and we can, we are able to help and to support the US, then we are not shying away,” Al-Thani continued, adding that “of course” the offer would be withdrawn if the transaction were deemed illegal.

Beyond the ethical and legal questions, retrofitting and installing the required security and communications equipment on a second-hand plane from another government, even a friendly one, is a monumental task.

It could take two years and cost multiples of what the plane itself is worth, current and former officials have told CNN. US spy and security agencies tasked with the overhaul would need to essentially strip the aircraft down to its frame and rebuild it with the necessary equipment.