Bondi confirmed she lobbied for Qatar while at Ballard Partners but said the $115,000 figure represented the firm's contract, not her own earnings.

Pam Bondi’s salary, partly from her lobbying for Qatar, complicates the question of accepting a $400 million gift from the country.

Bondi’s former lobbying firm is also tied to the defense contractor that will be retrofitting the luxury jet.

On May 11, 2025, several mainstream news outlets reported that the nation of Qatar had offered U.S. President Donald Trump a Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet to be remodeled into a new Air Force One.

Clearly the offer of a free 747—which Trump would use as Air Force One—violates all ethical norms, even if Attorney General Pam Bondi (who happens to be a former lobbyist for Qatar) attests otherwise. It’s especially improper that the deal reportedly lets Trump’s corporation take ownership of the plane after he leaves office.

The furor over Qatar possibly giving the U.S. a $400 million Boeing jet for Donald Trump to use as a replacement for Air Force One has highlighted administration figures’ thicket of concerning business connections to the country, as Trump prepares to visit the U.S. ally during a Middle East tour this week.

President Donald Trump is slated to “accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar,” known as “a flying palace,” ABC News reports. Attorney General Pam Bondi, along with White House counsel David Warrington,

Ahead of his trip to Qatar and the Middle East this week, President Donald Trump cooed over Qatar's planned gift of a Boeing 747 jet, saying he would be "stupid" not to accept a "free, very expensive airplane.