Fact Check: Did former president Barack Obama accept a ‘sky palace’ jet as gift from Qatar in 2015?

WASHINGTON, DC: A claim about former president Barack Obama accepting a luxury jet from Qatar is doing the rounds on social media.

It all began after President Donald Trump made headlines for accepting a replacement Air Force One jet from the Gulf nation. 

The claim went viral on Facebook and was even shared on Threads and Bluesky. The wording across all platforms was nearly identical.

"In 2015, President Obama accepted a 'sky palace' jet as a gift from Qatar. 'Everybody relax,' he said. Everybody did. Then he tariffed the economy into recession, ignored the Constitution, and threw himself a $92M birthday parade. Remember?" the post said.

Fact Check: No, Barack Obama did not accept 'sky palace' gift from Qatar

There is zero evidence that Barack Obama ever received a private plane from Qatar in 2015, or any other year, for that matter, according to fact-checking outlet Snopes. 

The outlet fact-checked the claim and confirmed there was no merit to it. They reached out directly to Obama’s post-presidency office, and a spokesperson confirmed via email that the claim was completely untrue. 

Just a quick Google search of the keywords “Obama jet from Qatar 2015” turned up nothing but the same baseless posts and some vaguely related articles. No credible news outlet has ever reported such a gift being exchanged.

Even the US government’s own records don’t support the story. The State Department put out a full rundown in 2016 of all the presents Obama and his family received from foreign governments, and while Qatar did give him some lavish items, a private plane was definitely not one of them.

Qatar's lavish gift to Donald Trump

This comes after Donald Trump revealed that Qatar had offered him a luxury Boeing 747-8 as a temporary Air Force One, while the US government’s official version faces delays. 

According to him, the Qataris knew the delivery date of a new Air Force One jet was delayed. “They said, ‘We would like to do something,’ and if we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while they’re building the other ones, I think that was a very nice gesture," Trump explained at the White House.

He continued, “Now, I could be a stupid person and say, ‘Oh no, we don’t want a free plane.’ We give free things out, we’ll take one too. And, it helps us out because … we have 40-year-old aircraft. The money we spend, the maintenance we spend on those planes to keep them tippy top, is astronomical. You wouldn’t even believe it."

To be clear, Trump isn’t getting the jet as a personal gift. According to both the White House and Qatari officials, the aircraft would be handed to the US Defense Department, not Trump himself.

That said, the plane might eventually end up on display in Trump’s presidential library after his term wraps up, The Hill reported.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.