Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has accepted a luxurious Boeing 747 from Qatar for President Donald Trump’s use as Air Force One, the Pentagon introduced Wednesday, amid ongoing issues over the ethics and legality of accepting such a pricey reward from a overseas authorities.
“The secretary of protection (Pete Hegseth) has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar in accordance with all federal guidelines and rules,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated in an announcement.
Parnell stated the Pentagon “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.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer unveiled laws Monday that will block Trump from utilizing the posh jet to function Air Force One.
The Presidential Airlift Security Act of 2025 would stop the Pentagon from utilizing any funds to acquire, modify, restore or preserve plane beforehand owned by overseas governments or their representatives for presidential airlift functions.
A bunch of Senate Democrats stated final week that Trump’s public assertion about accepting the plane gives a “dangerous opportunity to exploit for foreign intelligence agencies and adversaries seeking to do harm” to the U.S.
During his go to to the Middle East, Trump stated he would settle for the Boeing 747 to function the subsequent Air Force One.
Trump has defended the reward, which got here up throughout his latest Middle East journey, as a strategy to save tax {dollars}.
“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE,” Trump posted on his social media website in the course of the journey.
Others, nevertheless, have stated Trump’s acceptance of an plane that has been referred to as a “palace in the sky” is a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition on overseas items. Democrats have been united in outrage, and even a number of the Republican president’s GOP allies in Congress have expressed issues.
They even have famous the necessity to retrofit the airplane to satisfy safety necessities, which might be pricey and take time.
“Far from saving money, this unconstitutional action will not only cost our nation its dignity, but it will force taxpayers to waste over 1 billion in taxpayer dollars to overhaul this particular aircraft when we currently have not one, but two fully operational and fully capable Air Force One aircraft,” stated Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.
She stated throughout a listening to Tuesday that it’s a “dangerous course of action” for the U.S. to just accept the plane from the Qatari ruling household.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink informed senators that Hegseth has ordered the service to start out planning easy methods to replace it to satisfy wanted requirements and acknowledged that the airplane would require “significant” modifications.
Source: www.dailysabah.com