President Donald Trump speaks to reporters Sunday as he exits Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., after attending the final soccer match of the World Cup.
Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press
Amid congressional scrutiny, President Donald Trump’s Qatari dream jet is likely headed back to Texas for upgrades amid questions about its security capabilities.
The Boeing 747-8 gifted by the Middle Eastern country for use as a temporary Air Force One will go out of service in August to get the work done, which is expected to take about a month, according to the president.
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“It 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,” Trump told reporters Sunday night after landing back in Washington from New Jersey. “They’ll have it be maxed out. It’ll take about a month.”
The remarks appear to acknowledge the retrofitted plane, which Trump began using earlier this month, lacks some of the defensive measures and capabilities of its predecessor.
RELATED: Senators press for details on costs of upgrading Trump’s Qatari dream jet
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Four New York Times journalists were subpoenaed to testify to a grand jury about their reporting on the matter.
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The Air Force wouldn’t comment on what’s next for the 14-year-old luxury jet, now known as the Bridge Aircraft, but previous work overseen by L3Harris Technologies has occurred at airfields across Texas, including Fort Worth Alliance Airport, Texas State Technical College Waco Airport and Greenville Municipal Airport-Majors Field, northeast of Dallas.
The jet also spent about three months at San Antonio International Aiport last year before the Pentagon formally accepted it in July.
The plane, which has drawn criticism over its cost and ethics concerns, came under more scrutiny earlier this month when Trump was forced to return from a NATO summit in Turkey aboard an old Air Force One due to security concerns.
Also, thirteen senators led by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., sent a letter to Air Force Secretary Troy Meink and L3Harris Technologies CEO Christopher Kubasik seeking details about the rapid and costly upgrade of the jet.
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The Air Force was to answer a list of questions about the deal by July 27, but it told Hearst Texas that it won’t meet that deadline. It declined to say whether it would meet an Aug. 6 deadline to provide a classified briefing about the jet to the entire Senate.
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Meink has previously said the retrofit would cost less than $400 million, but outside experts put the price tag at well over $1 billion.
“For over a year, the administration has stonewalled congressional requests for information about Qatar’s luxury jet gift to President Trump,” the letter said.
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“Congress and the American public have expressed due outrage about this corrupt, illegal exchange, but Pentagon officials have mostly deflected questions or claimed inability to share classified details about the luxury jet, the memorandum of understanding with Qatar, and the program to modify it for use by the president,” wrote the senators.
Murphy’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
As the price tag on the Qatar jet is likely rising, so, too, is the cost of the other Air Force One program currently underway at Boeing’s site at Port San Antonio.
A Boeing official predicted additional cost overruns on the VC-25B program to deliver two new presidential jets.
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“I do expect to see some cost growth there as we come through (final assembly) and we finish off the wiring and the structures, as well as finishing off with certification,” Steve Parker, the head of Boeing’s defense unit, said ahead of the Farnborough Airshow this week, as reported by defense outlet Breaking Defense. “That cost growth will be focused on making sure that we hit the 2028 time frame.”
The program is at least four years behind schedule and now $2.7 billion over the original deal worth about $4 billion, which Trump helped negotiate during his first term. Costs grew 7% over the last year, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Trump turned to the Qatar jet amid frustrations with Boeing’s slow pace of progress on the jets being upgraded in San Antonio.
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Plans call for the Qatari jet to go to Trump’s presidential library after he leaves office in about 30 months.
Bloomberg contributed to this report.