There’s been a lot of debate in recent days about whether President Donald Trump should accept a nearly half-billion jet to be used as a replacement to the aging Air Force One.
But that’s not the only executive-branch aircraft getting old.
For her part, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is requesting a new jet for her agency. Of course, it didn’t take Democrats like Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) to cry foul.
According to The Hill:
“I was horrified last Friday when we received a last minute addition to your spend plan for fiscal ’25, a new $50 million Gulfstream 5 for Secretary Noem’s personal travel coming from the Coast Guard budget. She already has a Gulfstream 5, by the way, this is a new one,” Underwood said during a Wednesday hearing.
The Department of Homeland Security has defended the request.
“The current CG-101 G550 is over twenty years old, outside of Gulfstream’s service life, and well beyond operational usage hours for a corporate aircraft,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement.
“This is a matter of safety. Much like the Coast Guard’s ships that are well beyond their service life and safe operational usage, Coast Guard’s aircraft are too,” she added. “This Administration is taking action to restore our Nation’s finest maritime Armed Service to a capable fighting force.”
Leftist lawmakers throw $50 million in taxpayer cash around like it’s nothing, but they suddenly become fiscal hawks when a Trump administration official wants to spend it.
And it’s worth noting that Trump’s critics aren’t even happy if the White House manages to score a free plane:
Trump crushes ABC when they grill him about Qatar's gift of a free jet:
"You're ABC fake news, right?…You should be embarrassed asking that question. They're giving us a free jet…It's not a gift to me—it's a gift to the Department of Defense. And you should know better… pic.twitter.com/xy0xHG5NYG
— Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) May 12, 2025
PLOT THICKENS: 🔥Democrats whining about Trump’s Qatar jet gift? 😢 —Funny, they were silent when it was accepted under Biden!
Trump’s just taking it home like a champ. 🛩️ pic.twitter.com/ux9bOSkW8p
— AGNEWSLIVE (@AMErikaNGIRLLL) May 16, 2025
Hillary Clinton says “No one gives someone a $400M jet for free without expecting something in return.”
Oh really, Uranium Queen? Let’s talk about what you got in return:
🔹 Saudi Arabia: $14.5M
🔹 Qatar, UAE, Kuwait: $1–$5M each
🔹 Algeria: $500K while you were Sec of State —… pic.twitter.com/d416gQI079— Barron🇺🇸 (@_NewsBarron) May 15, 2025
USA Today covered Trump’s recent remarks about the Qatari gift:
Ahead of his trip to Qatar and the Middle East this week, President Donald Trump cooed over Qatar’s planned gift of a Boeing 747 jet, saying he would be “stupid” not to accept a “free, very expensive airplane.”
Aboard Air Force One, Trump lamented to Fox News host Sean Hannity of the U.S. government plane’s comparative old age of 40 years and lackluster appearance next to Qatar’s, Saudi Arabia’s and the United Arab Emirates’ “brand new Boeing 747s.”
“You see ours next to it. This is like a totally different plane,” Trump said.
Here’s some additional coverage of the developing story:
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