The Trump management has actually approved the “genuine contribution” of a deluxe jet from Qatar, without specification on what must take place to the airplane after Head of state Donald Trump leaves workplace, according to a contract examined by ABC Information.
The memorandum of understanding, or MOU, was authorized previously this month by Protection Assistant Pete Hegseth and Qatar’s Preacher of State for Protection Matters, Soud container Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
The offer leads the way for the Flying force to start the procedure of retrofitting the aircraft– referred to as a “flying royal residence” due to its elegant surfaces– for the head of state’s usage.
Resources informed ABC Information previously this year that after the head of state left workplace, the strategy asked for moving possession of the aircraft to the Trump governmental collection structure.
A Qatari Boeing 747 remains on the tarmac of Hand Coastline International flight terminal after Head of state Donald Trump visited the airplane, Feb. 15, 2025.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP by means of Getty Photos
The price of reconditioning the aircraft is identified, although legislators have actually hypothesized that it can set you back as long as $1 billion.
The Flying force referred inquiries on the offer to Hegseth’s workplace, which referred a press reporter back to the Flying force.
” Why would certainly we ask the American taxpayer to invest upwards of $1 billion on an aircraft that would certainly after that just be utilized for a handful of months and after that move straight to the head of state? That does not seem like a smart use taxpayer bucks,” claimed Sen. Chris Murphy, D-N.Y., throughout an Us senate hearing in June.
Flying Force Assistant Troy Meink informed legislators that the cash to recondition the jet would certainly be drawn from a program meant to change aging nuclear projectiles, called the Guard global ballistic rocket program.
However Meink claimed the Guard nuclear program, which mores than spending plan, would not be instantly influenced since it was being reorganized.
Trump has actually long grumbled concerning the key airplane utilized in the present Flying force One fleet, which are Boeing 747-200 big jets that have actually been functional because 1990. The Flying force is under agreement with Boeing to change those airplane.
” The airplane is contributed in its present problem (” as is”), with no warranties or service warranties, unless or else set in future setups,” the brand-new memorandum states.
” The contribution is genuine, and the airplane might be utilized or taken care of by the DOD in its single discernment, in any type of way it considers ideal, as long because of this usage or disposal stays according to USA regulations,” the memorandum later on includes.
Absolutely nothing in the contract need to be “translated or understood” as “a deal, pledge, or approval of any type of type of bribery, unnecessary impact, or corrupt method,” the memorandum includes, calling it a “authentic present.”
