Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said the Air Force has a plan for the $400 million jet that Qatar gave President Donald Trump last week during his diplomatic trip to the Middle East.
Kaitlan Collins, host of CNN's "The Source," asked Rounds on Monday about the ethical implications and optics of accepting the massive gift.
"Apart from physically being able to use it and retrofit it, are you comfortable with the president flying on a plane that was gifted to him by Qatar?" Collins asked.
"If we can show the American people that there was a method and a reason why it is beneficial in terms of this transition, I think that will help a lot," Rounds replied, in comments highlighted by Mediaite.
Rounds said Air Force officials told him they have a plan to use the gifted jet as a transition from the old Boeing 747 jet to modernized aircraft.
"I think there may very well be an argument made that, as we transition from the old 747, which are still in service, to the new 747, there's a number of items that have to be included in each of the 747s," Rounds said. "If we can build some of that and then transition it out of one 747 and then into the new one, there may very well be some benefits to that while the old 747s are still flying.
"We've had a chance to talk to some of the folks in the Air Force, and the Air Force actually does have a plan to be able to work through this. And I'm not going to get into it because a lot of it's still classified, but there is a logic that a lot of people aren't talking about yet. And I probably shouldn't be breaking that story."
As he wrapped up his Middle East trip on Friday, Trump complained about returning to the United States on an older Air Force One, but said during an event in the United Arab Emirates' capital of Abu Dhabi that newer models were on the horizon.
"I leave now and get onto a 42-year-old Boeing," Trump said, "but new ones are coming."
Critics, including Democrats, ethics experts, and some Republicans, have slammed the president's decision to accept the plane, especially in light of the Trump Organization's reported $5.5 billion deal to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar.
Trump has defended his decision to accept the gifted jet, saying "only a fool" would refuse to accept the "palace on wings" and dismissing the bipartisan outcry as a "radical left story."
The gifted Boeing 747-8 was previously used by the Qatari royal family and will reportedly be decommissioned and installed as part of Trump's future presidential library after he leaves office.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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