President Donald Trump has officially accepted Qatar’s Boeing 747 jet gift to be refitted as Air Force One, the Pentagon revealed.
‘The Secretary of Defense has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar in accordance with all federal rules and regulations,’ chief spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed to Fox News. ‘The Department of Defense will work to ensure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the President of the United States. For additional information, we refer you to the United States Air Force.’
News of the deal prompted concerns from lawmakers, both over how to retrofit a foreign nation’s plane to serve as a mobile Oval Office with the highest levels of security and over what Qatar might want from Trump in return for the gift.
Trump ally Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has said the plane poses ‘significant espionage and surveillance problems’ while liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., declared, ‘Trump cannot accept a $400 million flying palace from the royal family of Qatar. Not only is this farcically corrupt, it is blatantly unconstitutional.’
‘Qatar is not, in my opinion, a great ally. I mean, they support Hamas. So what I’m worried about is the safety of the president,’ Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told reporters last week.
When asked about the latest news, Trump told a reporter at the White House, ‘They’re giving the United States Air Force a jet, okay, and it’s a great thing.’
‘You’re a terrible reporter. You don’t have what it takes to be a reporter,’ he said.
He boasted that he secured $5.1 trillion in investments during his trip to the Middle East last week.
Earlier, Trump had said of the criticisms, ‘So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,’ Trump wrote. ‘Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA.’
Trump in 2018 awarded Boeing a $3.9 billion fixed-price agreement to manufacture two new jets, after months of haggling over the price. The jets were supposed to be delivered in 2024, but the project is around five years behind schedule and already $2.5 billion over budget.
Fox News’ Liz Friden contributed to this report.