Nelson Mandela traveled on Donald Trump’s plane in 1990, but it wasn’t a gift

In the last few weeks before Election Day, podcaster and Fox News contributor George "Tyrus" Murdoch tried to show voters a philanthropic side of former President Donald Trump.

Nelson Mandela was "trying to come to the United States. The United States government wasn't helping him. No one was helping him," Murdoch said in an interview with Trump posted Oct. 18 on X. "You chartered a 727 plane for their entire trip. … Why is it hard for you to talk about the things you've done?" 

Mandela, who died in 2013, was an anti-apartheid activist who spent 27 years in prison before becoming South Africa’s first Black president in 1994.

Trump thanked Murdoch for bringing up the story. 

"I love doing it. I don't need praise for it. We all like a certain level of praise, but I just like helping people," Trump said. "I help a lot of people, and I enjoy doing it, and I never talk about it. It's nice that you bring it up. I also think it's not a narrative that the press likes talking about for me."

Trump’s campaign posted the clip on X, where it had more than 3 million views as of Oct. 19. Other social media users have continued to share it. 

"In 1990, President Trump chartered a private plane to get Nelson Mandela to America when the U.S. government wouldn't help," one Oct. 18 Instagram post said. 

The Instagram post’s caption said Trump "doesn’t go around bragging about his good deeds and charitable donations, but there are endless such stories."

The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

Mandela used one of Trump’s planes to fly within the U.S. But the travel wasn’t part of Trump’s "charitable donations," as the Instagram post claimed. It was a $130,000 business transaction.

Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. 

In June 1990, Mandela traveled to the U.S. on an 11-day tour after his release from prison. Mandela visited the U.S. as part of a larger world tour seeking financial and political support for his party and pressuring countries to continue sanctions against South Africa’s apartheid government. Mandela’s team had four weeks to organize the tour, The New York Times reported at the time. A June 1990 Los Angeles Times article said Mandela had unsuccessfully tried to find a plane after negotiating with the U.S. government and private charter companies. 

Christine Dolan, who handled Mandela’s travel logistics, told the Los Angeles Times that Mandela’s team contacted Trump asking to rent his private jet. Trump said the jet was being serviced but he offered one of his Boeing 727 commercial planes. Trump then owned an airline, Trump Shuttle, that operated flights between New York City, Washington, D.C., and Boston. 

"The Mandela Welcoming Committee is very thankful to Donald Trump," Dolan told the Los Angeles Times.

But use of the plane wasn't free. Mandela’s team rented a Trump Shuttle plane for $130,000, Dolan told the newspaper. 

Soon after its 1989 launch, Trump Shuttle ran into financial problems. Trump spent $365 million on 21 planes, airline terminals and equipment, according to The Boston Globe, and also spent $1 million per plane to remodel them. 

But after 18 months, The Boston Globe wrote, the company had lost $128 million. After missing a $1.1 million interest payment, Trump asked  his lenders to defer future payments, the newspaper reported. The lenders took control of the business, Time reported, and in December 1991, they made a deal with USAir to take over Trump Shuttle, The New York Times reported.

Featured Fact-check

Threads posts

stated on November 12, 2024 in a Threads post

“It was just Biden and Trump in 2020” general election ballots.

"Trump obviously could not donate a plane, but he was able to free up one of the planes from Trump Shuttle," Dolan told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in June 1990, referring to Trump Shuttle’s financial troubles. 

Although the Los Angeles Times reported that negotiations with the U.S. government for a plane failed, federal and local government agencies helped Mandela with U.S. travel logistics.  The State Department also provided security for Mandela, The New York Times reported.

"Although Mr. Mandela and his wife, Winnie, are visiting the United States as private citizens, the U.S. government is picking up part of the tab," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in June 1990.

The U.S. government provided a military jet to transport a bulletproof limousine from Washington, D.C., to Boston, the newspaper said.

In New York City, the police department built a bullet- and rocket-resistant parade vehicle, a June 20, 1990, a CBS News report said. Around 12,000 police officers were on duty the day of Mandela’s visit to New York City, which cost $2 million in overtime that the U.S. State Department paid, CBS News said.

A State Department official traveled with Mandela during his U.S. tour, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

An Instagram post said that as part of his "charitable donations," in 1990 Trump "chartered a private plane to get Nelson Mandela to America when the U.S. government wouldn't help."

Mandela used one of Trump Shuttle’s Boeing 727 planes to travel within the U.S. during his 11-day tour in June 1990. But Mandela’s team paid Trump $130,000 for use of the plane, it wasn’t a gift. 

Although the U.S. government didn’t provide Mandela a plane for his U.S. travel, it paid for his security and used a military plane to transport a bulletproof limousine across states. 

We rate it False.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.