U.S. President Donald Trump arrives aboard the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One, as he returns to Washington after a NATO leaders' summit in Turkey, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., July 9, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Brigadier General John Teichert handed Fox News a harsh reality that President Donald Trump's new Air Force One plane from Qatar isn't equipped to handle the president's high security needs.
Returning from the NATO summit in Turkey, Trump was forced to use the old presidential plane due to a credible Iranian assassination threat revealed by Israel, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
MS NOW reporter Carol Leonnig likewise revealed Thursday that one former national security official believes the new Air Force One isn't fully secure.
“This plane was built for aesthetics, not mission,” they said. “We know about its paint, its leather seats. But we don’t know its capabilities.”
Speaking to Fox, Teichert made it clear: "No matter what you do to retrofit a Qatari jet, it's never going to have the defensive capabilities of a tailor-made Air Force One built from scratch."
"So, it's clear to me that the Secret Service gave some pretty good advice to the president that there is a very real specific and credible threat and he needs to have the most robust and defended capability as possible, especially when leaving Turkey yesterday," he added.
"It goes back to you're never going to retrofit a plan to be as robust as if you make it. You need censors built into the plane. You need active defenses. You need hardening. And all of that really can come from a tailor-made, built-from-scratch plane," Teichert said.
He added that a new Air Force One system built from scratch will have those things, but a new Qatari "built on" won't.
Indeed, Leonnig's reporting cited national security officials who explained that it typically takes years, as well as billions of dollars, to build an aircraft like Air Force One and guarantee its safety and security. In Trump's case, the time and the money were not there.
Trump was given the plane last May and bragged in June that the U.S. “couldn’t build a plane like this.” The plane was built by the American company Boeing. The interior was designed by Alberto Pinto Interior Design. Pinto was also in Jeffrey Epstein's black book, and Epstein was known to visit his studio when in Paris.
There are currently two Boeing jets under construction to become the new Air Force One planes, but they won't be ready for another two years. So, instead of continuing to use the old Air Force One, Trump accepted the Qatari one and said he intends to keep it for his presidential library after leaving office.
Leonnig revealed Thursday afternoon that the president was embarrassed by his need to swap out the new fancy plane. The spicier Air Force One features a new glossy interior, but it lacks key things like the ability to refuel mid-air and defend itself using its own missile-defense systems.
Trump also can't do command-and-control functions that the other Air Force One could protect from. In the case of the older plane, it was built as a kind of “flying situation room." Any president could receive a secure and highly classified briefing while flying on the plane.