Senators respond to Qatar's gift of a plane to be Air Force One then be used in President Trump's presidential library.
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00:00I think I saw the president say that he accepted it on behalf of the U.S. government and specifically the Department of Defense.
00:08That's all that I think that they're capable of doing.
00:10If there's a subsequent discussion about it being in a library, I don't think there can be any commitment or understanding in advance other than that would be a preference.
00:18For use, though, do you have security concerns, national security concerns?
00:22Oh, well, you know, everybody needs to know that Air Force One is not like every other Boeing,
00:27and it's going to have to be put through a lot of paces and probably every square inch analyzed
00:31before I think the president should consider it as primary means of transportation.
00:36And then you've got to work through the cost-benefit of it, right?
00:39I mean, we're in a world of doge, so we've got to figure out whether it's worth upfitting or writing a check,
00:44selling it and writing a check to the Treasury and help us with our debt reduction.
00:50To think that Air Force One, where the president is asked to function as our commander-in-chief
00:56in a situation room, making life-or-death decisions,
01:00it's on a plane given to us by a foreign government with 200 miles of wiring in it,
01:05is an indication to me of complete recklessness on the part of the president.
01:10He is so dazzled by the notion of putting this plane in his presidential museum,
01:14he's forgotten his responsibility to this nation.
01:17I understand that we may need a new Air Force One,
01:22but I'd love to have a big, beautiful jet that's built in the United States of America.
01:26That seems to me to be the way to go here.
01:28So do you not think he should accept this then?
01:29Well, I would just think that, listen, it's a nice gesture,
01:34but I think maybe the thing to do is to say, hey, we appreciate it,
01:37but there's a lot of other things you could help us out with,
01:39like stopping coddling Islamic fundamentalist terrorists in their own country,
01:44the Qataris it is.
01:45And it's worth the investment here in this country
01:49to build a big, beautiful jet here in the United States.