Pentagon accepts luxury jet from Qatar to use as Air Force One

[LetMyPeopleVote]

49. Maddow Blog-Trump admin accepts jet from Qatar, ignoring legal restrictions and bipartisan pushback

Team Trump’s decision to accept the Qatari “gift” doesn’t end the controversy; it starts the controversy.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-admin-accepts-jet-qatar-ignoring-legal-restrictions-bipartisan-p-rcna208306

When the news broke last week that Donald Trump was poised to accept a superluxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar, some of the relevant players made clear that the plans had not yet been finalized. In fact, a spokesperson for Qatar’s government referred to the “possible transfer” of the aircraft, adding that “no decision has been made.”

A week later, however, it’s apparently a done deal. The New York Times reported:

The United States has accepted a 747 jetliner as a gift from the government of Qatar, and the Air Force has now been asked to figure out a way to rapidly upgrade it so it can be put into use as a new Air Force One for President Trump, a Defense Department spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement, “The secretary of defense has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar in accordance with all federal rules and regulations. 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.”

The Times’ report added that the Defense Department “has not given an estimate of when the work on the Qatari plane might be done, even though Mr. Trump and the White House have made clear the president wants it soon, perhaps even by the end of the year.”....

How does Trump plan to explain away his earlier condemnations of presidents accepting foreign gifts? Why is the president apparently indifferent to the fact that even many of his Republican allies have expressed opposition to this idea?

As for the gambit’s many Democratic critics, the congressional minority can’t hold hearings or send subpoenas, but a group of Senate Democrats last week formally requested that the Pentagon’s inspector general’s office open an investigation into the matter, which might actually happen.

This story, in other words, is just getting started.

This action may prevent any additional third parties from adding listening and spyware devices to this plan. However, this plane has been on an unguarded runway for a couple of years and so anyone who wanted to plant spyware on this plane has had a long time to do so.

You need an appropriation to pay for the $1 billion of upgrades.