President Trump on Tuesday defended his plan to accept a $400 million jet from Qatar after receiving widespread backlash over the gifted Boeing 747-8 jet.
“Now, some people say, ‘oh, you shouldn’t accept gifts for the country.’ My attitude is, why wouldn’t I accept the gift? We’re giving to everybody else? Why wouldn’t I accept the gift?” the president told Sean Hannity during an interview on Air Force One.
Trump spent Tuesday in Saudi Arabia meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before heading to Qatar on Wednesday.
The Qatari royal family gave the hand-me-down jet to the United States because of delays in Boeing’s production of the new Air Force One fleet. Trump plans to use the plane temporarily while the Boeing project moves forward.
“You know, we’re the United States of America. I believe that we should have the most impressive plane,” Trump told Hannity after previously pointing out that Air Force One is nearly 40 years old and looks “much less impressive” than planes in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.
Trump added on Truth Social that the plane was also gifted to the Department of Defense for “a job well done” in successfully defending Qatar “for many years.”
“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done,” he wrote.
Trump said Monday that the plane would be retired to the presidential library once Boeing delivers the new Air Force One fleet.
“The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME!” he wrote.
Still, Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed concerns about the optics of accepting the plane, along with the cost of installing secure communications and making classified upgrades required to use the plane as the president’s mode of transportation.
“I do think the jet probably sends the wrong signal to people, and I don’t like the look or the appearance [of it], so I would hope he rejects it,” Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) told Fox News.
Trump is currently on a four-day trip to the Middle East. On Wednesday, he is set to participate in a state visit in the Qatari capital of Doha, where he will attend a state dinner with Qatari leaders.