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President Donald Trump and key members of his team took a very special flight on Wednesday – the maiden flight on the new Air Force One.
The president boarded the recently upgraded aircraft Wednesday morning as he traveled to North Dakota to visit the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
As reported by RSBN, the newly minted Air Force One is a modified Boeing 747 gifted to the United States by the Qatari government. The previous Air Force One had been in use since the 1990s.
“This was a gift from a country that’s treated us very well, and they’re an ally of us, over in the Middle East, Qatar,” President Trump told reporters before boarding AF1. “…The head of Boeing said this is considered the best 747 they’ve ever built, and I went to Qatar, and I said, ‘I’d like to use it for a period of time…’”
The president said that Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, offered to “make a contribution” to the U.S. by giving America the aircraft. “It was very nice, and we were able to do it in about five months…bring it up to the presidential standard, meaning, security-wise,” the president remarked.
The president’s trip to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library coincides with the Trump administration’s hard push to beautify, preserve, and secure the homeland. In a new report from the U.S. Department of the Interior, the “Make America Beautiful Again” Commission compiled 43 pages of information detailing the actions taken by the administration to execute on this agenda.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Wednesday, “.@POTUS is a visionary for our country just like President Theodore Roosevelt. Under his leadership, we are Making America Beautiful Again and ensuring our treasured lands and historic legacy are responsibly managed and preserved for centuries to come!”
President Roosevelt was a champion of conservationism and is known for signing the Antiquities Act in 1906, a law that authorized the creation of national monuments.