Trump Air Force One switch excuse ‘a little hard to believe’: Haberman

New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman cast doubt on President Trump’s explanation on Wednesday for why he returned to the old Air Force One on his way back from Turkey.

The president brushed aside reports that security risks were behind the decision not to take the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One.

Trump told reporters ahead of his trip back from the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, that the new model was “going to a couple of bases” in Europe “so the soldiers can see it.”

“It’s a little hard to believe that this is the only reason that that happened,” Haberman told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday evening.

Haberman cited Times reporting that the U.S. Secret Service “had concerns” about the new plane. The reporter said the decision “does raise questions” about “how equipped” the Qatari model is with appropriate defense systems.

“This plane was rushed into circulation because President Trump wanted to fly on a new Air Force One because the two that he had commissioned during his first term weren’t going to be ready for a variety of reasons, some Boeing’s fault, some an issue with how contracts were negotiated,” she said.

The new Air Force One completed its first domestic trip to North Dakota last week, then the president used it on the way to Turkey. The Air Force said it spent less than $400 million on security upgrades for this plane.

“My question is — despite the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars that were already spent to retrofit this plane for security — what remains?” Haberman asked.

Reporters who traveled on Air Force One leaving Turkey pressed Trump about why they were asked to lower their blinds during takeoff.

“You’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags that we have to deal with,” the president responded.

Haberman noted she understood why Trump “doesn’t want to broadcast” safety concerns, but said, “this is a related complication” of the Iran war.

“At least in my experience, you have those blinds down when you are on a potentially dangerous flight, such as when presidents have gone into Iraq or when military aircraft would go into Iraq during the war,” Haberman said.

Trump doubled down on his explanation for the Qatari plane’s absence on Wednesday evening, sharing a photo on Truth Social of the jet at an Air Force base in the United Kingdom. He wrote that the plane traveled there “with virtually no deviation of flightpath” on the way back from Turkey.