Trump's Qatar trip is off to a flying start as Air Force One gets another fighter jet escort
DOHA: President Donald Trump's trip to Qatar is off to a flying start.
Like Saudi Arabia a day earlier, Qatar didn't bother waiting for Trump to land before setting out to impress him with a
fighter jet escort
.
As Trump flew in to Riyadh on Tuesday and then in to Doha on Wednesday as part of his
Middle East trip
, he received ceremonial escorts from each country's F-15 fighter jets, exceptionally rare sights.
A White House official, Margo Martin, posted videos of the escorts online.
"Saudi F-15's providing honorary escort for
Air Force One
!" she wrote on Tuesday. The Royal Saudi Air Force has the world's largest fleet of American-made F-15s after the US Air Force.
Then on Wednesday, Martin posted: "what a view flying into Qatar!!!" She even captured one of the Qatari aviators, sitting in the F-15's backseat, returning the favor by taking a picture of Air Force One.
by Taboola
by Taboola
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The fighter jets aren't the only planes Qatar has used to impress Trump, offering to gift him a luxury Boeing 747-8 that the US could use as Air Force One while new versions of the plane are under construction by Boeing.
Trump has defended the idea as a fiscally smart move for the United States. But his critics have questioned what would amount to a president accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign government, calling it "naked corruption" and "a grave national security threat."
The Republican president is on a three-nation Middle East trip and visits the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
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