Investigation Launched Into Trump's New Air Force One Being A National Security Risk
A group of Senators are demanding answers about the retrofitting process for Trump's new Air Force One and the risk that it poses to national security.
Trump took his new Air Force One to Turkey for the NATO summit, where he needed to be led around by the hand, but back in the United States, a group of Senators is investigating the retrofitting process for Trump’s gift from Qatar and the national security risks that it poses.
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U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT). Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Gary Peters (D-MI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA.), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote to roy E. Meink, Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, and Christopher Kubasik, CEO of L3Harris and demanded transparency about the jet.
The Senators wrote:
We write to ask the U.S. Air Force and L3Harris to provide Congress full information on the modification work recently completed on the $400-million Boeing 747-8 luxury jumbo jet gifted by the Government of Qatar to President Donald Trump. Americans deserve answers on how the administration has decided to spend their taxpayer dollars and assume new national security risks with the VC-25B Bridge aircraft and the rushed retrofit program contracted to L3Harris – all in service to President Trump’s interest in having a pretty, luxurious plane for himself.
For over a year, the administration has stonewalled congressional requests for information about Qatar’s luxury jet gift to President Trump. Congress and the American public have expressed due outrage about this corrupt, illegal exchange, but Pentagon officials have mostly deflected questions or claimed inability to share classified details about the luxury jet, the memorandum of understanding with Qatar, and the program to modify it for use by the President. The Trump administration has refused to share the information Congress needs to conduct oversight of this foreign gift and the estimated $1 billion in taxpayer dollars spent to upgrade and outfit the luxury jet for President Trump’s use during – and reportedly after – his term in office.
The Trump administration has been withholding information from Congress about this gift to Trump that has cost taxpayers at least one billion dollars.
The Senators are also accusing Trump of misusing national security funding for his plane.
