Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) pointed out that talks regarding Qatar giving the United States a plane to temporarily replace Air Force One began under the Biden administration.
In an interview on CNN, Mullin pointed out that the U.S. needed a temporary replacement for Air Force One since President Donald Trump was “flying around on a 40-year-old plane.”
“Here’s what’s interesting to me, what the media isn’t telling you — what no one’s talking to you about, is the same 747 has been in negotiations for a year,” Mullin said. “The Biden administration is the one that started these conversations. It didn’t start underneath the Trump administration. Why? Because we need a back-up for Air Force One.”
“The President of the United States is flying around on a 40-year-old plane, and there is no back-up for it,” Mullin continued. “The back-up we had, the air frame started having structural issues. No one’s discussing that part.”
In a recent post on Truth Social, Trump noted that the Department of Defense was “getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE” to temporarily replace Air Force One. Trump wrote:
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. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA.
“Sources familiar with the proposed arrangement” for Qatar to gift the U.S. a luxury Boeing 747 told ABC News that ownership of the plane will “initially be transferred to the United States Air Force.” Before Trump leaves office in 2029, ownership of “flying palace” will be transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation:
The plane will initially be transferred to the United States Air Force, which will modify the 13-year-old aircraft to meet the U.S. military specifications required for any aircraft used to transport the president of the United States, multiple sources familiar with the proposed arrangement said.
The plane will then be transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation no later than Jan. 1, 2029, and any costs relating to its transfer will be paid for by the U.S. Air Force, the sources told ABC News.
Breitbart News’s Nick Gilbertson reported that Trump was asked by an ABC News reporter what he would say to people who see the plane “as a personal gift” to him. Trump responded by telling the reporter that he should be “embarrassed” for asking that question.
The reporter began to ask Trump what he would say to those “who view that luxury jet as a personal gift to you; why not leave it—”
Trump then interjected, “You’re ABC fake news, right?”
“Let me tell you, you should be embarrassed asking that question,” the president continued. “They’re giving us a free jet. I could say, ‘No, no, no…I want to pay you a billion or $400 million, or what it is.’ Or I could say, ‘Thank you very much.’”
Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s Media Attaché to the U.S., previously described reports that Qatar was gifting a plane to the U.S. during Trump’s visit to Qatar as “inaccurate” and said the “possible transfer” of a plane to the U.S. was “under consideration.”
“Reports that a jet is being gifted by Qatar to the United States government during the upcoming visit of President Trump are inaccurate,” Al-Ansari said in a statement. “The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made.”
