President Donald Trump said it would take about a month for the new Air Force One to be “maxed out.” File Photo courtesy U.S. Air Force | License Photo
President Donald Trump told reporters that the Boeing jet gifted by Qatar to serve as Air Force One is expected to be taken out of commission to “be maxed out.”
He made the comment Sunday amid his return to Washington, D.C., after attending the World Cup final in New Jersey, The New York Times reported. A reporter traveling with the president asked Trump about the safety features of the Boeing 747-800 plane.
“Mr. President, this plane does not have antimissile defense systems on it,” the reporter said. “Why are you flying it?”
The question came less than two weeks after Trump departed Turkey in one of the older Air Force One planes despite traveling to the NATO summit there in the new Qatari-gifted one. He later switched back to the newer plane during a stop in Britain, but the brief swap raised questions about the safety features of the new plane.
In response to the reporter’s question Sunday, Trump said the new Air Force One “has a lot of capability but, as I understand it, in about a month or so, they’re going to send it to have it be maxed out.”
“It’ll take about a month,” he added.
Trump didn’t specify the timeline for the changes or what, exactly, they would entail, CNN reported.
The safety features of the new Air Force One plane came under scrutiny by a report in The New York Times on the same day Trump departed Turkey. The outlet reported that the aircraft lacked certain defensive measures, including antimissile capabilities.
The reporting prompted the FBI to hand-deliver subpoenas to Times reporters to testify to a grand jury about how they obtained the information about the plane’s safety measures. Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon would team up with the Justice Department to “identify and prosecute” those leaking information to the press.
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump delivers a prime-time address to the nation from the East Room of the White House on Thursday. Pool photo by Saul Loeb/UPI | License Photo
