Trump gets 747, reportedly not a “gift”

The Defense Department has released a statement that the famous Qatari 747 has been accepted by the government, presumably to serve as Air Force One. Mr. Trump purportedly  dislikes that the current two planes in use as AF1 are older vintage 747s nearing the ends of their usable lifespans.

The unprecedented $400 million gift, which President Donald Trump has said will transfer to his library after his term ends, will require extensive renovation to serve essentially as the flying White House.

Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman said in a May 21 statement. “The Department of Defense will work to ensure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the President of the United States.”

Therein lies the rub – Boeing will presumably need to go over the plane in detail to ensure security, compliance with safety standards for POTUS, mid-air refueling capability – the usual things required of AF1. Estimates of the cost vary wildly, and are quoted at up to a billion dollars, well over the $400,000,000 worth of the plane. Should be interesting to see THAT contract – one would think Boeing would be the logical contractor, since they are the ones who built the thing in the first place. But who would they use to work on it, given that their current work on the two new AF1s has already slipped and they are at best two years out from delivery?

Trump called journalists’ questions about the plane “fake news” during a May 21 news conference in the Oval Office with South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa. “They’re giving the United States Air Force a jet and it’s a great thing,” Trump said.  USA Today

Dunno, seems a lot like someone giving you an exciting car – which needs twice as much work to rebuild as it’s worth. It’s done in collector car circles as projects of love or hoping the eventual market value will eventually make it worth it, but there’s not a lot of people collecting 747s. Other, of course, than Mr. Trump, evidently.

Trump keep saying that we are getting it as a gift, that it is free. Sounds more like it will cost us… a lot. And other sources allege that it was never intended as a gift.

And now, new reporting reveals that the Trump administration initially approached Qatar about buying the plane, contradicting the narrative that Qatar just wanted to treat their pal to a luxury Boeing 747 because he’s a great guy.

On Monday, CNN reported that Trump “tasked his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff with finding a list of viable planes” to temporarily serve as the presidential plane, and the Air Force was exploring other options as well. They landed on the Qatar jet:

After the Pentagon’s initial engagement with the company, Boeing provided US defense officials with a list of other Boeing clients around the world with planes that could work in the meantime, three of the sources said.

“And Qatar was one of the clients,” the second source familiar with the discussions said, adding the Pentagon “offered to buy the plane”?and Qatar indicated it was willing to sell it.

On February 15, Trump toured the Qatari plane when it was brought to Palm Beach, Florida. At the time, White House communications director Steven Cheung said Trump was just on the jet “to check out the new hardware/technology.” But on Monday, the New York Times reported that the plane was flown from Doha to Florida, at an estimated cost of $1 million, so Trump could check out the U.S. government’s potential purchase.

The Pentagon had launched the discussions with Qatar after learning that the White House supported the idea, the third source familiar said, and Witkoff helped facilitated the initial conversations, the White House official said.

The third source recalled that the initial discussions were about leasing the plane, rather than buying it outright.

          After Mr. Trump looked at the plane, one thing was clear: It was love at first sight.

Flying back to Washington on one of the existing Air Force One 747s, he marveled at what he had seen of the interiors of the Qatari jet and talked about the plane as if getting it for his own use was a done deal. A new paint job, his allies in the White House figured, and few other quick upgrades*, and it could be ready within the year for Mr. Trump to fly.

The talks about acquiring it intensified.

But, according to the Times, at some unclear point, haggling between Qatari and U.S. officials over buying the plane turned into a discussion about Trump accepting an exorbitant gift:

That was a surprise to Air Force officials. At no point, Pentagon officials said, did the Air Force propose that the plane be donated.

One senior administration official told The Times that Qatar raised the option of a potential gift, or at least that Qatari officials were “agreeable” to the idea of a no-charge, government-to-government transfer when it came up. A second official said Mr. Witkoff, for one, always believed the transaction would be a donation.

Another official said Qatari officials volunteered the idea of a donation, an account that Qatar has declined to address.

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 Mr. 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.  Intelligencer

Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Trump!