Trump Parades New Air Force One, Defends Accepting Qatari 747 Gift

BULLHEAD CITY, Arizona — President Donald Trump showed off the new Air Force One on Wednesday, using the first leg of a Western campaign swing to publicly defend his decision to accept a luxury Boeing 747 from the Qatari royal family as a gift for presidential use.

Addressing supporters at an airport rally in Bullhead City, Trump said he learned the Qataris had "the best of all the 747s" and had initially called the country's leader to borrow the aircraft — before the emir offered it instead as a gift.

"When you're given gifts, you take 'em, right?" Trump told the crowd. "When they give you a 747 you say two words: 'thank you.'"

The moment was pure stagecraft. As soaring music played, the former Qatari jet flew low over the local airport where supporters waited in the heat. Trump — in his signature red baseball cap — emerged with a wave and a fist bump and descended the stairs as Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" blared from speakers. The jet, now wearing Trump's redesigned red, white, blue and gold paint scheme, framed the scene against the Black Mountains.

The acceptance of the aircraft last year drew strong bipartisan criticism, including from some of Trump's staunchest Republican supporters. Critics have questioned both the ethics of accepting a foreign gift and the cost of retrofitting the jet to presidential security standards — secure communications, missile-defense systems and other classified requirements. The Air Force says the aircraft will conduct commissioning flights before regularly carrying the president, and describes it as an interim "bridge" aircraft while the long-delayed permanent replacements are finished.

Trump was on the second day of a Western campaign swing — Alaska on Tuesday, Arizona and Montana on Wednesday, after Ohio on Monday — a midterm roadshow designed to rally Republicans ahead of the Nov. 3 elections that will determine control of Congress. In Arizona, he campaigned for Rep. Andy Biggs, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in the swing state, speaking in Mohave County, where he won more than 70% of the vote in 2024.

The backdrop was striking: an economically struggling corner of rural Arizona, where poverty and unemployment run higher than state and national averages, served as the stage for the debut of a foreign-donated presidential jet.

Sources

• The Manila Times (AP): "Trump parades new Air Force One, defends accepting the Qatari royal family's 747 gift"
• ETV Bharat (AP): "Trump Touts New Air Force One, Defends Accepting Qatari 747 Gift"
• The Japan Times