WFP says a ‘deepening hunger crisis’ is unfolding and that it may have to pause food aid due to record low funding.
Published On 7 Nov 20257 Nov 2025
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The number of people facing emergency levels of hunger in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has nearly doubled since last year, the United Nations has warned.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday a “deepening hunger crisis” was unfolding in the region, but warned it was only able to reach a fraction of those in need due to acute funding shortages and access difficulties.
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“We’re at historically low levels of funding. We’ve probably received about $150m this year,” said Cynthia Jones, country director of the WFP for the DRC, pointing to a need for $350m to help people in desperate need in the West African country.
“One in three people in DRC’s eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, and Tanganyika are facing crisis levels of hunger or worse. That’s over 10 million people,” Jones said.
“Of that, an alarming three million people are in emergency levels of hunger,” she told a media briefing in Geneva.
She said this higher level meant people were facing extreme gaps in food consumption and very high levels of malnutrition, adding that the numbers of people that are facing emergency levels of hunger is surging.
“It has almost doubled since last year,” said Jones. “People are already dying of hunger.”
Years-long conflict
The area has been rocked by more than a year of fighting. The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has seized swaths of the eastern DRC since taking up arms again in 2021, compounding a humanitarian crisis and the more than three-decade conflict in the region.
The armed group’s lightning offensive saw it capture the key eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu, near the border with Rwanda. It has set up an administration there parallel to the government in Kinshasa and taken control of nearby mines.
Rwanda has denied supporting the rebels. Both M23 and Congolese forces have been accused of carrying out atrocities.
Jones said the WFP was facing “a complete halt of all emergency food assistance in the eastern provinces” from February or March 2026.
She added that the two airports in the east, Goma and Bukavu, had been shut for months.
WFP wants an air bridge set up between neighbouring Rwanda and the eastern DRC, saying it would be a safer, faster and more effective route than from Kinshasa, on the other side of the vast nation.
In recent years, the WFP had received up to $600m in funding. In 2024, it received about $380m.
UN agencies, including the WFP, have been hit by major cuts in US foreign aid, as well as other major European donors reducing overseas aid budgets to increase defence spending.
Since April 2023, more than 12 million people have been displaced, nearly 9 million inside Sudan and over 3 million across borders. The United Nations now identifies Sudan as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with 25 million people facing acute food insecurity and famine conditions already recorded in multiple areas.
These are not statistics; they are markers of systemic collapse. Mass graves, torched health facilities, and emptied towns tell the story. UN officials and independent human rights bodies have documented that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias committed genocide in Darfur, a finding echoed by the recent fall of El Fasher to RSF forces and the disturbing images that followed, underscoring the scale of brutality: civilians hunted in displacement camps, aid workers killed, humanitarian corridors severed. Each captured city tightens the noose on civilians and erodes any remaining space for lifesaving assistance.
The $4.2 billion required under the 2025 Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan remains largely unfunded. Agencies, including the WFP, UNICEF, UNHCR, and IOM, warn of an imminent operational collapse. Inaction is not neutral — it accelerates mass hunger, disease, and death. Sudan’s implosion will intensify displacement, fuel illicit economies, exacerbate extremist recruitment, and heighten volatility in food and fuel supplies. The outcome is predictable: expanded violence, deteriorating governance, and prolonged economic decline across West and Central Africa.
This crisis does not end at Sudan’s borders. It reverberates across a Sahel already destabilised by insurgency, climate shocks, and hollowed-out state institutions. Since 2020, a succession of coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger has entrenched military rule and normalised authoritarian recourse. Weak governance and porous borders transform humanitarian emergencies into regional security threats.
The international response must shift from caution to conviction:
• Close the funding gap immediately. Multiyear, flexible financing is essential. Underfunding today guarantees higher security and social costs tomorrow.
• Enforce accountability. Genocide determinations and credible atrocity reports demand criminal investigations, targeted sanctions, and civilian protection mechanisms. Impunity is a policy choice — and one that invites repetition.
• Reform and empower Africa’s institutions. The African Union must evolve from a consultative platform into a body capable of deterrence. Continent-wide resilience requires real incentives and penalties for unconstitutional rule, as well as rapid protection capacity. AU, ECOWAS, and the UN should align political mediation, enforcement tools, and governance support to reduce the appeal of coups masquerading as solutions.
The AU’s intervention is both urgent and crucial for the continent’s stability. Africa cannot afford perpetual crises while its people are uprooted and its natural wealth siphoned off. Sudan is a warning. The Sahel is the echo. Failure to act decisively will cement a trajectory of conflict, authoritarian drift, and economic paralysis. Accountability, protection, and reform are not aspirations; they are minimum requirements for continental stability.
MILLWALL were given a rude awakening ahead of their Championship clash with Sheffield United as their hotel was evacuated in the middle of the night.
The Lions’ squad piled onto the streets of Sheffield at 3:55am on Saturday morning when the siren started blaring out.
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Millwall players had to evacuate their hotel in the early hours of the morningCredit: Sun Exclusive
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A fire alarm went off just before 4amCredit: Sun Exclusive
It is not clear what set the alarm off, though players were left huddled outside both entrances to the Radisson Blu hotel for approximately 20 minutes while fire crew investigated the cause of the alarm.
A few players appeared bleary-eyed and fed up, while one player was overheard describing the situation as a ‘farce’.
Another FaceTimed his partner to show her his discontent at being sat on the pavement in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Millwall had made the 144-mile from south London by coach on Friday ahead of their trip to Bramall Lane.
The Lions started the season with a victory over Norwich City before being hammered by Middlesbrough 3-0 last time out.
Between those results, they did progress in the League Cup by beating Newport County 1-0 at Rodney Parade.
His team have started the campaign with three successive defeats – including a 4-1 thrashing at home to Bristol City.
Selles said: “We know when you work and you play for Sheffield United, you know that you need to win every match.
EFL club launch new badge like ‘lion with lollipop and first aid box’
“Then if not, and especially if it’s consecutive, then you’re going to be under massive pressure.”
Meanwhile, Millwall captain Jake Cooper is eyeing up promotion to the Premier League.
The defender has been at The Den since his move from Reading in 2017.
He said: “It would be a dream to be a Premier League player with Millwall and everything at the club is geared to get there.
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Ruben Selles is already under pressure at the BladesCredit: Alamy
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Jake Cooper wants to reach the Premier LeagueCredit: Getty
“There’s more expectation on us now because we finished well last season and the recruitment we’ve done.
“So you can see why people are getting excited.
“It’s important to have lads like Massimo (Luongo) and Alfie (Doughty), who have experience of securing promotion to the Premier League and understand what a winning culture feels like.
“Our new lads have integrated well.
“Alfie knew a few of the guys already while Massimo is very experienced and has been around the Championship for a long time.”
US nurse tells of Israeli authorities confiscating supplies of baby formula being brought into Gaza by medical workers.
One in every 10 children screened in clinics in Gaza run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, is malnourished, as child hunger surges across the territory amid the continuing Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid.
Israel’s punishing prevention of aid entering Gaza has led to “severe shortages of nutrition supplies”, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday, describing the situation for starving children as “engineered and man-made”.
Lazzarini said the UN must be allowed to do its work in Gaza, particularly bringing in “humanitarian assistance at scale, including for children”.
“Any additional delay to a ceasefire will cause more deaths,” he said, noting that more than 870 starving Palestinians had been killed so far while trying to access food from the highly criticised distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the United States.
UNRWA’s communications director, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a videolink from Amman, Jordan, that “medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out”.
“Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March,” Touma said.
“One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries,” she said.
“As malnutrition among children spreads across the war-torn enclave, UNRWA has over 6,000 trucks of food, hygiene supplies, medicine, medical supplies outside of Gaza. They are all waiting to go in,” Touma added.
“The world cannot continue to look away.”
“1 in 10 children screened by UNRWA in #Gaza is now malnourished,” UNRWA @JulietteTouma briefs the press at @UNGeneva.
Before the war, such cases were almost unheard of.
Now, Gaza’s shattered health system is overwhelmed — and aid is being blocked by the Government of Israel.… pic.twitter.com/3b8S2qONef
Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rare in Gaza.
Andee Clark Vaughan, an emergency nurse with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA) based in Gaza, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday how Israeli authorities had confiscated baby formula from medical workers entering the territory.
“Immune systems are so compromised here because of the malnutrition,” Vaughan said, describing how Palestinian mothers are so malnourished that they are unable to produce breast milk to feed their infants and forced to make difficult decisions to keep their children alive.
“What we’ve been seeing here is moms trying to do their utmost best, mixing water – which is often contaminated – with beans or lentils just to make something of sustenance to get these kids fed and get them nutrients,” Vaughan added.
On Monday, UNICEF said that last month, more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition.
It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested two women on Tuesday outside a West L.A. courthouse after a hearing in a local criminal case, marking the first instance in recent weeks of the Trump administration using a tactic that has drawn condemnation from the legal community.
Adriana Bernal, 37, was detained by ICE agents after appearing in the Airport Courthouse on La Cienega Boulevard late Tuesday morning, according to Jennifer Cheng, public information officer for the L.A. County Alternate Public Defender’s Office.
Video from the scene shows law enforcement agents, most in all black clothing, leading a woman toward a black truck outside the courthouse with tinted windows as one onlooker screams, “Oh my god, oh my god,” repeatedly. The agents had previously been waiting in the 3rd floor courtroom where Bernal and two other defendants were scheduled to appear, according to Cheng.
“Our client walked out of the courtroom and was followed by these individuals. Once our client was outside the building, these individuals (who were not in any uniform), handcuffed her, put her into dark a colored SUV and drove away,” Cheng said in an e-mail to The Times. “We were absolutely blindsided by what happened. These purported ICE agents detained our client without notice or explanation. We received no advance communication, no opportunity to advise our client, and no information.”
Advocates, defense attorneys and even some prosecutors have long sounded the alarm about the problems that could arise from ICE using state criminal courts as staging grounds for federal immigration enforcement. When ICE engaged in similar behavior across California, Oregon, New Mexico and Colorado in 2017, during Trump’s first term in office, prosecutors in some states reported having to drop cases because undocumented immigrants would no longer serve as witnesses.
An ICE spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
L.A. County’s Presiding Judge Sergio C. Tapia II said the courts did not receive advance notice of the arrest operation and confirmed ICE had not taken enforcement actions inside county courthouses yet this year.
“Federal immigration enforcement activities inside courthouses disrupt court operations, breach public trust, and compromise the Court’s constitutional role as a neutral venue for the peaceful resolution of disputes,” Tapia said in a statement. “These actions create a chilling effect, silencing victims, deterring witnesses, discouraging community members from seeking protection and deterring parties from being held accountable for their crimes or participating in legal proceedings critical to the rule of law.”
Bernal was slated to appear for an early disposition hearing in a case where she and two other defendants were charged with organized retail theft, grand theft and possession of burglary tools, according to court records.
One of Bernal’s co-defendants in the case was also detained by ICE agents, according to two sources with knowledge of the case, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Cheng said the alternate public defender’s office is “looking into whether local law enforcement or members of the District Attorney’s Office played a role in what happened,” though she admitted to having no evidence to support the idea that prosecutors tipped off ICE.
L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said his office had no advance notice of ICE’s actions and would not notify federal officials about the immigration status of anyone they are prosecuting.
“As a general proposition, I don’t want anyone deported until I’ve got them sentenced. And if they’re sentence is jail or state prison I want them to serve their sentence,” he said in an interview. “That is the punishment they receive for committing crimes in my county. It doesn’t help that objective to get them through the criminal justice system, get them punished in our system, by having them deported before they’re done with what’s going on here.”
Hochman described the defendants in the case as part of broader organized retail theft “organization” with members from South America.
While ICE once directed its agents to avoid making arrests in so-called “sensitive locations” including schools, places of worship and hospitals, Trump shifted that policy shortly after he took office, rescinding the 2011 Obama-era memo that restricted such actions.
ICE officials have previously claimed courthouse arrests were necessary to keep agents safe from dangerous criminals — since those entering state courts must pass through metal detectors and are presumably unarmed.
The California Supreme Court previously rebuked the federal government during Trump’s last presidency for “stalking courthouses” and using the justice system as “bait,” effectively punishing undocumented people for showing up to court.
In recent months, the Trump administration has been routinely arresting people at regular immigration hearings and federal court appearances.
Cheng said Tuesday’s actions by ICE were a dangerous escalation by the agency in Los Angeles.
“We have seen throughout our community how ICE agents often detain and seize people simply because they fit a particular profile, without any regard to the person’s immigration status, or the status of any immigration process that a person is currently going through,” she wrote. “When there is widespread fear that ICE is going to snatch you if you go to court – whether you are charged with a crime, a victim of crime, or a witness to crime, people will stop going to court.”
Times Staff Writer Andrea Castillo contributed to this report.
Islamabad, Pakistan – In January 2024, Pakistan and Iran fired missiles into each other’s territory in a brief military escalation between the neighbours.
Yet 17 months later, after Israel attacked Iran with strikes on the latter’s nuclear facilities, and assassinated multiple Iranian generals and nuclear scientists, Pakistan was quick to condemn the Israeli action.
Islamabad described the Israeli strikes as violations of Iran’s territorial sovereignty and labelled them “blatant provocations”.
“The international community and the United Nations bear responsibility to uphold international law, stop this aggression immediately and hold the aggressor accountable for its actions,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on June 13.
As Israeli attacks on Iran, and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes, enter their sixth day, the deepening conflict is sparking fears in Islamabad, say analysts, rooted in its complex ties with Tehran and the even greater unease at the prospect of the Israeli military’s aerial influence extending close to the Pakistani border.
The human toll from the spiralling Israel-Iran conflict is growing. Israel’s attacks on Iran have already led to more than 220 deaths, with more than a thousand people injured. In retaliation, Iran has launched hundreds of missiles into Israeli territory, resulting in more than 20 deaths and extensive property damage.
While Pakistan, which shares a 905km (562-mile) border with Iran via its southwestern province of Balochistan, has voiced staunch support for Tehran, it has also closed five border crossings in Balochistan from June 15.
More than 500 Pakistani nationals, mainly pilgrims and students, have returned from Iran in recent days.
“On Monday, we had 45 students who were pursuing degrees in various Iranian institutions return to Pakistan. Almost 500 pilgrims also came back via the Taftan border crossing,” the assistant commissioner for Taftan, Naeem Ahmed, told Al Jazeera.
Taftan is a border town neighbouring Iran, situated in the Chaghi district in Balochistan, which is famous for its hills where Pakistan conducted its nuclear tests in 1998, as well as the Reko Diq and Saindak mines known for their gold and copper deposits.
At the heart of the decision to try to effectively seal the border is Pakistan’s worry about security in Balochistan, which, in turn, is influenced by its ties with Iran, say experts.
A complex history
Pakistan and Iran have both accused each other of harbouring armed groups responsible for cross-border attacks on their territories.
The most recent flare-up occurred in January 2024, when Iran launched missile strikes into Pakistan’s Balochistan province, claiming to target the separatist group Jaish al-Adl.
Pakistan retaliated within 24 hours, striking what it said were hideouts of Baloch separatists inside Iranian territory.
The neighbours patched up after that brief escalation, and during Pakistan’s brief military conflict with India in May, Iran studiously avoided taking sides.
On Monday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ishaq Dar addressed Parliament, emphasising how Pakistan had been speaking with Iran and suggesting that Islamabad was willing to play a diplomatic role to help broker an end to the military hostilities between Iran and Israel.
“Iran’s foreign minister [Abbas Araghchi] told me that if Israel does not carry out another attack, they are prepared to return to the negotiating table,” Dar said. “We have conveyed this message to other countries, that there is still time to stop Israel and bring Iran back to talks.”.
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry told Al Jazeera that other nations needed to do more to push for a ceasefire.
“We believe we are playing our role, but the world must also do its duty. Syria, Libya, Iraq – wars devastated them. It even led to the rise of ISIS [ISIL]. We hope this is not repeated,” he added.
Fahd Humayun, assistant professor of political science at Tufts University and a visiting research scholar at Stanford, said that any Pakistani bid to diplomatically push for peace would be helped by the fact that the administration of President Donald Trump in the United States is also, officially at least, arguing for negotiations rather than war.
But Umer Karim, a Middle East researcher at the University of Birmingham, suggested that for all the public rhetoric, Pakistan would be cautious about enmeshing itself too deeply in the conflict at a time when it is trying to rebuild bridges with the US, Israel’s closest ally.
“I doubt Pakistan has the capacity or the will to mediate in this conflict, but it definitely wants it to wind down as soon as possible,” he said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (centre) visited Tehran in May, where he met Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (right) and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (left) [Handout via Prime Minister’s Office]
Balochistan and security concerns
Pakistan’s greatest concern, according to observers, is the potential fallout in Balochistan, a resource-rich but restive province. Rich in oil, gas, coal, gold and copper, Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province by area but smallest by population, home to about 15 million people.
Since 1947, Balochistan has experienced at least five rebellion movements, the latest beginning in the early 2000s. Rebel groups have demanded a greater share of local resources or outright independence, prompting decades of military crackdowns.
The province also hosts the strategic Gwadar port, central to the $62bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), linking western China to the Arabian Sea.
Baloch nationalists accuse the state of exploiting resources while neglecting local development, heightening secessionist and separatist sentiments. Baloch secessionist groups on both sides of the border, particularly the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLA), have been waging a rebellion in Pakistan to seek independence.
“There is a major concern within Pakistan that in case the war escalates, members of armed groups such as BLA and BLF, many of whom live in Iran’s border areas, might try and seek protection inside Pakistan by crossing the very porous boundaries shared by the two countries,” Abdul Basit, a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told Al Jazeera.
“Thus, Pakistan had to shut down the crossing in an attempt to control the influx. It remains to be seen whether they can successfully do that, but at least this is their objective.”
Worries about an Afghanistan redux
Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, waves of Afghan refugees have sought shelter in Pakistan. The latest mass entry occurred after the Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021. At their peak, there were close to 4 million Afghans living in the country.
In 2023, however, Pakistan launched a campaign to send the refugees back to Afghanistan. According to government estimates, close to a million of them have been expelled so far. Pakistan has cited rising incidents of armed violence in the country, which it blames on groups that it says find shelter in Afghanistan, as a key justification for its decision. The Taliban reject the suggestion that they allow anti-Pakistan armed groups sanctuary on Afghan territory.
Basit said Pakistan would likely want to avoid any repeat of what happened with Afghan refugees.
“With such a long border [with Iran], and a history of deep connection between people of both sides, it is not out of realm of possibility that it was this factor which factored in Pakistan’s decision to close the border,” he added.
Fears of Israeli aerial superiority
Baloch armed groups and the prospect of a refugee influx are not the only concerns likely worrying Pakistan, say experts.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that his air force has control over Tehran’s skies. And while both Israel and Iran continue to strike each other’s territory, Pakistan, which does not recognise Israel and views it as a sworn enemy, will not want Israeli influence over the Iranian airspace to grow and creep towards the Iran-Pakistan border.
“Pakistan is also averse to Israel achieving complete air superiority and control of Iranian airspace, as it would upend the current security status quo on Pakistan’s western flank,” Karim, the University of Birmingham scholar, told Al Jazeera.
Break from the past
Security analyst Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud, based in Islamabad, noted that Pakistan has historically sided with the US in regional wars, including in Afghanistan, but may hesitate this time.
A majority Sunni nation, Pakistan still boasts a significant Shia population – more than 15 percent of its population of 250 million.
“Pakistan has already dealt with sectarian issues, and openly supporting military action against [Shia-majority] Iran could spark serious blowback,” he said.
The Alcudia and Can Picafort hoteliers association has sounded the alarm that bookings on the island are down on last year, particularly among holidaymakers from Germany
Hoteliers warned that demand was down from some markets (Image: Getty Images)
Germans are abandoning a beautiful holiday island beloved by Brits.
Brits and Germans have long been among the biggest forces in European travel, both sharing similar tastes in sunshine resorts on the coast. It seems that our neighbours on the Continent are now growing a little tired of a well-worn holiday classic – Majorca.
The Alcudia and Can Picafort hoteliers association has sounded the alarm that bookings on the island are down on last year, especially among travellers from Germany, their principal markets. Bar and restaurant takings were down by between 15 and 20 percent compared to last year, which is a significant blow for an industry already struggling.
The president of the Association, Pablo Riera-Marsa, said: “We are seeing how the German market, traditionally our number one market, is the one that has slowed down the most. In addition, we are detecting that this season, last-minute bookings are once again becoming more popular, with tourists waiting for special offers and promotions before making their purchase decisions.”
The island has long been a holidaymaker mainstay(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
The travel chief warned that the “Champagne effect” which followed the coronavirus pandemic, when many tourist destinations enjoyed long periods of high demand as pent-up travellers sought holidays following the lockdowns, is now over.
“It is essential to continue to focus on quality, sustainability and differentiation, especially in a context in which the market is once again stabilising and last-minute bookings are becoming increasingly important,” Mr Riera-Marsa added, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reported.
Dwindling demand from some markets is not the only issue facing holidaymakers at the moment. Workers in a popular Spanish holiday destination are threatening to strike during the peak season.
Hotel bosses in Tenerife are facing a stark threat from union leaders: agree to a pay rise within the next fortnight or brace for strike action in the peak of summer. Hospitality chiefs were hit with an ultimatum last week by the General Union of Workers, the UGT, announcing to employers: “You have 15 days to raise wages or there will be a strike in the summer.”
Sindicalistas de Base, the leading union on the bargaining committee, has warned that failure to reach a deal by June 13 will result in a call to action with strikes during July and August. The unions demanded an unconditional salary hike retroactive to January 2025 as a precondition to discussing the rest of the items.
The impending strikes could be an echo of the walkouts experienced during Easter Thursday and Friday, after protracted negotiations failed to lead to a deal. The rallying cry of the workers is for a 6.5% wage hike – an additional 4.5% atop the 2% already sanctioned by the collective agreement.
President Trump has spent the first major overseas trip of his second administration — next stop Wednesday in Qatar — beating back allegations that he was personally profiting from foreign leaders by accepting a $400-million luxury airliner from the Gulf state’s royal family.
Trump has bristled at the notion that he should turn down such a gift, saying he would be “stupid” to do so and that Democrats were “World Class Losers” for suggesting it was not only wrong but also unconstitutional.
But Democrats were hardly alone in criticizing the arrangement as Trump prepared for broad trade discussions in Doha, the Qatari capital.
Several top Republicans in Congress have expressed concerns about the deal, including that the plane would be a security risk. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Tuesday said there were “lots of issues associated with that offer which I think need to be further talked about,” and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), another member of the Republican leadership team, said that Trump and the White House “need to look at the constitutionality” of the deal and that she would be “checking for bugs” on the plane, a clear reference to fears that Qatar may see the jetliner as an intelligence asset.
Criticism of the deal has even arisen among the deep-red MAGA ranks. In an online post echoed by other right-wing influencers in Trump’s orbit, loyalist Laura Loomer wrote that while she would “take a bullet for Trump,” the Qatar deal would be “a stain” on his administration.
The broad outrage in some ways reflected the stark optics of the deal, which would provide Trump with the superluxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet — known as the “palace in the sky” — for free, to be transferred to his personal presidential library upon his departure from office.
Accepting a lavish gift from the Persian Gulf nation makes even some stolid Trump allies queasy because of Qatar’s record of abuses against its Shiite Muslim minority and its funding of Hamas, the militant group whose attack on Israel touched off a prolonged war in the region.
Critics have called the deal an out-and-out bribe for future influence by the Qatari royal family, and one that would clearly come due at some point — raising serious questions around the U.S.’ ability to act with its own geopolitical interests in mind in the future, rather than Qatar’s.
Trump and Qatar have rejected that framing but have also deflected questions about what Qatar expects to receive in return for the jet.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in response to detailed questions from The Times, said in a statement that Trump “is compliant with all conflict-of-interest rules, and only acts in the best interests of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media.”
Leavitt has previously said it was “ridiculous” for the media to “suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit,” because he “left a life of luxury and a life of running a very successful real estate empire for public service, not just once, but twice.”
Ali Al-Ansari, media attache at the Qatari Embassy in Washington, did not respond to a request for comment.
Beyond the specific concern about Qatar potentially holding influence over Trump, the jet deal also escalated deeper concerns among critics that Trump, his family and his administration are using their political influence to improperly enrich themselves more broadly — including through the creation of a $Trump cryptocurrency meme coin and a promised Washington dinner for its top investors.
Experts and other critics have for years accused Trump of violating constitutional constraints on the president and other federal officials accepting gifts, or “emoluments,” from foreign states without the express approval of Congress.
During Trump’s first term, allegations that he was flouting the law and using his office to enrich himself — including by maintaining an active stake in his golf courses and former Washington hotel while foreign dignitaries seeking to curry favor with him racked up massive bills there — went all the way to the Supreme Court before being dismissed as moot after he’d been voted out of office.
Since Trump’s return to office, however, concerns over his monetizing the nation’s highest office and the power and influence that come with it have exploded once more — and from disparate corners of the political landscape.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), left, speaks with Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security oversight hearing on May 8, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
(Julia Demaree Nikhinson / Associated Press)
In a speech last month on the Senate floor, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) alleged dozens of examples of Trump and others in his family and administration misusing their positions for personal gain — what Murphy called “mind-blowing corruption” in Trump’s first 100 days.
Murphy mentioned, among other examples, the meme coin and dinner; corporations under federal investigation donating millions to Trump’s inaugural fund and those investigations being halted soon after he took office; reports that Trump has sold meetings with him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for millions of dollars; and Donald Trump Jr.’s creation of a private Washington club with million-dollar dues and promises of interactions with administration officials.
Murphy also noted Trump’s orders to fire inspectors general and other watchdogs meant to keep an eye out for corruption and pay-to-play tactics in the federal government, and his scaling back of laws meant to discourage it, such as the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Corporate Transparency Act.
“Donald Trump wants to numb this country into believing that this is just how government works. That he’s owed this. That every president is owed this. That government has always been corrupt, and he’s just doing it out in the open,” Murphy said. “But this is not how government works.”
When news of the Qatar jet deal broke, Murphy joined other Democratic colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a statement denouncing it.
“Any president who accepts this kind of gift, valued at $400 million, from a foreign government creates a clear conflict of interest, raises serious national security questions, invites foreign influence, and undermines public trust in our government,” the senators wrote. “No one — not even the president — is above the law.”
Other lawmakers — from both parties — have also weighed in.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) blasted Trump’s acceptance of the plane as his “lastest con” and a clear attempt by the Qatari government to “curry favor” with him.
“This is why the emoluments clause is in the Constitution to begin with. It was put in there for a reason,” Schiff said. “And the reason was that the founding fathers wanted to make sure that any action taken by the president of the United States, or frankly any other person holding federal public office, wasn’t going to be influenced by getting some big gift.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in an interview with MSNBC on Monday that he did not think it was a “good idea” for Trump to accept the jet — which he said wouldn’t “pass the smell test” for many Americans.
Experts and those further out on the American political spectrum agreed.
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley School of Law and an expert in constitutional law, said the gift of the jet, “if it is to Trump personally,” clearly violates a provision that precludes the president from receiving any benefit from a foreign country, which America’s founders barred because they were concerned about “foreign governments holding influence over the president.”
Richard Painter, the top White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said that Trump accepting the jet would be unconstitutional. And he scoffed at the ethics of doing business with a nation that has been criticized as having a bleak human rights record.
“After spending millions helping Hamas build tunnels and rockets, Qatar has enough to buy this emolumental gift for” Trump, Painter wrote on X. “But the Constitution says Congress must consent first.”
Painter criticized the White House justifying the deal by saying that Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi had “signed off” on it, given Bondi’s past work for the Qatari government, and said he knew of no precedent for a president receiving a lavish gift without the approval of Congress. He noted that Ambassador Benjamin Franklin received a diamond-encrusted snuff box from France’s King Louis XVI, but only with the OK from Congress.
Robert Weissman, co-president of the progressive nonprofit Public Citizen, said that it was unclear whether Trump would heed the cautionary notes coming from within his own party, but that the Republican-controlled Congress should nonetheless vote on whether the jet was a proper gift for him to receive.
“If the members of Congress think this is fine, then they can say so,” Weissman said, “and the voters can hold them accountable.”
Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro, a prominent backer of Trump, criticized the deal on his podcast Monday, saying that Trump supporters would “all be freaking out” if Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, had accepted it.
“President Trump promised to drain the swamp,” Shapiro said. “This is not, in fact, draining the swamp.”
