#Trump wanted a quick solution to his #AirForceOne problem.
The US signed a $3.9B contract w/Boeing in 2018 for 2 jets to be used as Air Force One, but a series of delays had slowed the work far past the 2024 delivery deadline, possibly beyond Trump’s second term.
Now Trump had to fly around in the same old planes that transported President George H.W. Bush 35 years ago🎻.
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It wasn’t just a vanity project. Those planes, which are no longer in production, require extensive servicing & frequent repairs, & ofcls from both parties, reaching back a decade or more, had been pressing for replacements [of course the Boeing contract was signed in #Trump’s first term, & the #Qatar *gift* jet happened in his 2nd. So definitely more a priority for Trump than other presidents NYT]
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#Trump, though, wanted a new plane while he was still in office. But how?
“We’re the United States of America,” Trump said this month. “I believe that we should have the most impressive plane.” [#FederalWorkers are getting fired, #SocialSecurity offices are being closed & #Medicaid is being cut, but #TrumptyDumpty needs a fancy new plane to feel important.]
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The story of how the #Trump admin decided that it would accept a *free* luxury Boeing 747-8 from #Qatar to serve as #AirForceOne involved weeks of secret coordination between Washington & Doha. The #Pentagon & the White House’s military office swung into action, & Trump’s Middle East *envoy*, #SteveWitkoff, played a key role.
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Soon after #Trump took office, *military* ofcls started to discuss how the US could buy a temporary plane for Trump to use while Boeing’s work creaked along, an investigation by NYT found. But by May 11, when Trump announced on social media that #Qatar would be providing the plane to the US, he characterized it as “a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE.”
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…it remains unclear exactly how a plan that #Pentagon officials & others inside the #Trump admin initially assumed would involve buying the plane from #Qatar morphed into a proposed #gift by the Middle Eastern nation.
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…Interviews w/14 people involved in or briefed on the search for the replacement plane say it started when the WH Military Office, which oversees presidential travel, worked w/Boeing & the #Defense Dept to compile a list of every late-model 747 on the market with a business-jet layout, which could more quickly be retrofitted into #AirForceOne.
There were only 8 planes in the world that fit the bill, including a flashy double-decker jet that #Qatar had been trying to sell for years…
A brochure for the aircraft advertised just the kind of opulence #Trump favors. There were “soft fabrics of the highest quality” in the bedroom, along with “luxurious leather & exquisite wood veneers” & a “lavishly designed” bathroom that is “almost a piece of art.”
…#SteveWitkoff, an old friend from Trump’s early days in NY real estate, knew the Qataris well. The country’s sovereign wealth fund had bailed him out in 2023 when a real estate deal on Central Park South went bad.
So #SteveWitkoff got in touch with the Qataris to ask about the plane.
…The White House suggested at the time that #Trump’s tour of #Qatar’s plane was intended to put pressure on Boeing to speed its work on its new presidential jets.
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After #Trump looked at the plane, one thing
was clear: It was love at first sight.
Flying back to Washington on one of the existing #AirForceOne 747s,
he marveled at what he had seen of the interiors of #Qatar’s jet and talked about the plane as if getting it for his own use was a done deal. A new paint job, his allies figured, & few other quick upgrades, & it could be ready within the year for Trump.
…The Boeing jets that the US had ALREADY PAID FOR became a secondary focus…
By the time #Trump toured the aircraft on Feb. 15, discussions about how to acquire the plane had changed. The talk among senior aides to Trump shifted from a government-to-government sale to a *donation*.
That was a surprise to #AirForce officials. At no point, #Pentagon officials said, did the Air Force propose that the plane be donated.
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…Government officials in #Qatar — who had long wanted to unload the plane — had a different version of the sequence of events, according to a person familiar with their timeline.
They were willing to send the jet to Florida for #Trump to take a personal tour. But the expectation was that the plane would be sold to the United States, not offered as a gift.
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…But no specific terms of the planned deal have been made public, & the ability of a future *Trump library* to take possession of the plane remains murky. And ethical issues are not the only complication.
Even if the terms of the transfer are finalized, current & fmr #AirForce acquisition ofcls have cautioned that getting the Qatari plane ready to be used by #Trump would not be easy.
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Boeing has already spent 5 years transforming the 747 planes the #Pentagon bought into #AirForceOne jets, w/upgrades including communications capabilities, missile defense systems & other measures to protect the planes from an EMP that could be caused by a nuclear bomb.
Dozens of small cracks in the body of the planes—which are commonly found in the 747-8 #Qatar plane model as well—also had been identified & repaired.
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…“It’s a big beast,” Marc Foulkrod, an aerospace engineer who at one pointtried to help #Qatar sell the plane, said in an interview….
“Boeing made a great airplane, & it’s a classic piece when you do the VIP version,” said Foulkrod, who has a consulting firm that helps wealthy clients & heads of state buy jets.
But such planes have a limited number of buyers. “You might find that one-off guy that has a super ego that wants to buy one & ride around it,” Foulkrod said.
#Qatar’s plane has a luxurious interior, but considerable work would be needed to prep the plane to serve as #AirForceOne —including ridding the jet of any hidden electronic listening devices & adding advanced communications equipment & specialized systems to protect the plane from a missile attack or other threats. And even if the plane is donated, the cost of those retrofits would be enormous, acc/to current & fmr #Pentagon ofcls: at least $1 billion.
