Nancy Pelosi’s Net Worth Falls by Millions as Public Career Ends

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Nancy Pelosi’s Net Worth Falls by Millions as Public Career Ends

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Giving up the reins of the House of Representatives may have come at a cost for Nancy Pelosi, who reportedly lost at least $8 million in net worth in the year after stepping down from leadership.

Pelosi saw the estimated net worth of her and her husband, Paul Pelosi, fall from $257 million to $249 million in 2024, according to a New York Post report citing research by Quiver Quantitative.

The decline coincided with Pelosi’s first full year outside House Democratic leadership. She is set to formally retire from office by the end of the 2026 midterms.

The apparent loss stems largely from the Pelosi couple’s stake in luxury housing development company Russell Ranch, which fell to an estimated value of $1 million to $5 million in 2024, down from an estimated $5 million to $25 million a year earlier.

The Post cited Pelosi’s newly published annual financial disclosure.

The $8 million dip was likely caused by real estate investments that did not perform as expected, according to portfolio manager Dan Weiskopf.

Weiskopf manages the NANC fund, which tries to mirror the investments of members of Congress and is named after Pelosi.

The portfolio manager told the Post that Pelosi appears to have offset some of the losses with lucrative returns from her investment in tech giant Google.

In 2025, Pelosi’s $18.3 million investment in Google stock generated a 65% return, the Post reported.

The outlet added: “The San Francisco politician bought options for 2,000 shares of Google in the last days of 2025, with a strike price of $150, which, ironically, expire in January 2027, the month she’s retiring from public life.”

Meanwhile, Weiskopf stated that Pelosi “continues to enrich herself with great stock picks.”

Pelosi spokesperson Ian Krager downplayed the report, repeating the longtime argument that the stocks are owned by her husband and not by the former speaker herself. He claimed that Pelosi has “no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions.”

The outgoing lawmaker has for years faced questions about her $249 million net worth and stock market success while serving in Congress. Pelosi currently earns a $174,000 taxpayer-funded salary.

Michelle Obama Admits to Being Self-Centered Diva

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Michelle Obama Admits to Being Self-Centered Diva

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Former first lady Michelle Obama revealed that the “next chapter” in her life is likely to look very much like the last several, with her main motivation being herself.

She and former president Barack Obama sat down for an awkward Good Morning America interview ahead of the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

During the lightning round, interviewer Robin Roberts asked the two to describe their upcoming plans in a single word.

While Barack said he planned to cut loose with some “fun,” Michelle’s response suggested she may not be along for the ride.

“Me,” she said.

Rumors have swirled in recent years that the $70-million power couple’s marriage may be on the rocks, with Michelle Obama pointedly refusing to do her public duty by attending the 2025 inauguration of President Donald Trump.

Moreover, Michelle has repeatedly bashed her husband on her “In My Opinion” podcast, which she co-hosts with her brother, Craig Robinson.

She has said that Barack’s chewing, for example, makes her “want to smack [him] upside the head” and has criticized her husband for failing to be on time.

“Well Barack, he had to adjust to what ‘on time’ was,” she griped, according to Newsweek. “He was on that island time.”

When not hen-pecking her hubby, Michelle’s podcast, interviews and books have also fixated frequently on her feelings of being oppressed and sidelined as a black woman in America, albeit an extremely privileged one.

“As black women, our hair has long been mischaracterized and misunderstood,” she said in one such podcast episode. “Our hair is our heritage, our pride, and our resilience.”

Critics reacted to her latest desire for more “me” time with a hearty dose of disdain, as Fox News reported.

“So, in case you didn’t know this… Michelle Obama thinks about herself a lot,” said political commentator Danny De Urbina.

“Only person on earth who can make me feel bad for Barack,” said X influencer Lydia Leitermann.

However, Michelle’s cringeworthy reply on GMA was not the only soundbyte that raised some eyebrows during the Obama Center’s opening ceremony.

During her speech, she appeared to take a dig at Barack over his dubiously awarded preemptive Nobel Peace Prize, leading another ex-first lady, Hillary Clinton, to unleash an uncomfortable cackle.

Not to be outdone, Barack Obama also sought to redirect conversation back to himself during his speech.

An analysis by journalist Tom Elliott noted that he made a total of 126 references to himself during the 33 minute speech — or roughly 3.8 per minute.

“Impressive, even by Obama’s standards,” Elliott wrote.

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

German World Cup Fan Gets White House Invite for Loving America

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German World Cup Fan Gets White House Invite for Loving America

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) The surreal story of a group of World Cup fans having the red carpet rolled out for them went to another level on Saturday as they were invited to Washington, D.C., to visit the White House and tour the State Department.

Ambassador Nick Adams, the Trump administration’s special envoy for hospitality and tourism, extended the invitation, calling the unexpected trend of soccer fans live-tweeting their experiences a “fabulous thing for our country,” the New York Post reported

As American leftists continue to root against America and to celebrate its degradation, foreign tourists have been pleasantly surprised to have their preconceived notions shattered while traveling stateside for the tournament.

Social media has been abuzz with European and Japanese visitors trying culinary favorites like Nashville fried chicken and Taco Bell.

At the head of the pack is “Freddy,” a German visitor who went viral early on with his praise of Southern culture as he passed through Louisiana and Texas.

He raved about Buc-ee’s convenience stores and developed a particular affinity for country star Ella Langley along the way.

Although the virality of his posts — some garnering more than a million views — might have been a pleasant enough surprise, the cities along his route have since begun to notice the tremendous marketing opportunity afforded by his sincere delight in seeing American culture with a fresh set of eyes, and in sending him back with one of the most unbelievable stories to tell.

He was given a grand tour of athletics facilities in New Orleans, and then offered a hotel room in Texas by former Houston Texans star JJ Watt.

In Oklahoma City, he caught up with Langley herself, attending a concert and then meeting his new favorite performer, whose hospitality team gifted him with brand-new suitcases.

But the luggage and mementos proved to be too much as Freddy and his travel mates tried to catch a flight for Germany’s next playoff game in Toronto.

Then, disaster nearly struck, as bad weather forced the cancelation of their connecting flight from Dallas to Canada.

But American Airlines soon stepped up to route them through Buffalo in time to catch the game.Cristiano Ronaldo

Adams said he was drawn to Freddy’s content and compelled to reach out due to the Ella Langley fandom.

“I thought, this is exactly the kind of kind of guy that is taken to America,” Adams said. “What a great ambassador for our country. What a great person to have representing what America is really like.”

The ambassador also speaks fluent German, which may have helped him connect with Freddy. Although he hadn’t spoken with President Donald Trump about the visit, he anticipated that Trump would be fully on board with meeting the country’s newest superfan.

“The president is usually aware of a lot of what’s going on. That much I can assure you,” Adams said. “I think that Freddy is going to be very welcome.”

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

Hillary Clinton: DNC Conspired to Hide Biden’s Decline While Pushing Fake Primary

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Hillary Clinton: DNC Conspired to Hide Biden’s Decline While Pushing Fake Primary

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Like a bad penny, Hillary Clinton has once again surfaced to unleash a barrage of half-truths designed to make headlines for their sheer audacity.

In a June 15 New Yorker interview, Clinton couched her attacks on “Trumpian authoritarianism” with an apparent mea culpa for Democrats’ decision to initially run Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential race.

“I think there were a lot of conversations going on behind the scenes,” Clinton confessed in response to questions about an autopsy report that the Democratic National Committee recently released. “I certainly am aware of that, and participated in a number of them, but there was no way to convince him by going public.”

Clinton largely sought to pin the blame on Biden himself, insisting that “he made a terrible mistake.”

But she — like other Democrats confronted with the question — proceeded to dance around the past insistence that Biden’s cognitive decline was a non-issue.

Some, such as Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., have said the quiet part aloud, admitting that it was all part of an ill-conceived attempt to cling to power, while trusting that fabricated lawfare attacks on GOP challenger Donald Trump would render him ineligible and make Biden the victor by default.

“I think that like the most brutally honest answer to that question is, you know, when you’re facing the specter of Donald Trump potentially being reelected to the presidency and you have in the sitting president the presumptive nominee, it’s understandable that you’re not going to be inclined to do or say things that might weaken that presumptive nominee against Trump, given the threat that he posed and poses,” Ossoff told the “Pod Save America” podcast, as reported by the Post Millennial.

Nonetheless, Clinton’s comments implied a timeline long before the June 2024 debate, in which Biden’s failure to speak coherently made it all but impossible for him to continue.

She effectively admitted that the primary contests — in which Biden faced off against candidates like Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn.; future Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; new-age guru Marianne Williamson; and businessman Jason Palmer — were all but a farce engineered to ensure Biden coasted through the nominating process.

“He had said that he would not run again, and counterfactual narratives are always a bit tricky, but I believe that if he had kept to that plan, that he wasn’t going to run, that he was going to pass the torch to the next generation, we would have had a real contest,” Clinton told the New Yorker.

“And very sadly I believe whoever emerged from that contest — whether it was the vice president or a governor or a senator or anybody else — would have beaten Donald Trump,” she continued. “I think it was a terrible miscalculation on the part of President Biden, but once he held on for as long as he did we were in a terrible dilemma.”

Clinton’s latest puzzle piece suggested that Democrats and their media allies knowingly gaslit their own voters and supporters about the severity of the situation in order to meddle in the primary.

“It confirms that the pre-debate concern wasn’t some abstract worry shared by anonymous staffers or concerned donors,” wrote PJ Media. “It was serious enough that people close to Biden made a direct appeal to step aside, and serious enough that he and his inner circle, Jill Biden very much included, shut it down completely.”

The admission comes on the heels of concerning series of confessions by former first lady Jill Biden, who said while promoting her new memoir that she thought her husband might have had a stroke during the June 27 debate.

“I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since,” she claimed. Nonetheless she forced him to continue onward after the medical emergency to an Atlanta-area Waffle House.

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

Obama Surrogate Reveals Presidential Library Built on Stolen Land

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Obama Surrogate Reveals Presidential Library Built on Stolen Land

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) President Barack Obama was slammed on social media after a top surrogate revealed his new presidential library had been built on stolen land.

“We’d also like to take a moment to acknowledge the original inhabitants of the land upon which we are gathered here today,” said longtime adviser Valerie Jarrett, who is currently serving as CEO of the Obama Foundation. “We honor the Anishinaabe, the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi Nations.”

The land acknowledgement elicited shock from X influencers like Alex Muse, who lamented that “Obama knew he was building his presidential library on stolen tribal lands and yet built anyway. … It is the perfect symbol of progressive politics: confess the sin, change nothing, & feel righteous about it.”

The modernist “monstrosity,” the design of which reportedly was inspired by the Death Star from “Star Wars,” opened its doors last week in a spot that once was part of Chicago’s Jackson Park.

It has created controversy throughout its construction, with present-day residents of the city’s South Side venting their concerns in 2023 that they would be displaced by the project.

The Obamas, moreover, are alleged to have shorted several of the minority-run subcontractors tasked with the actual labor for the $850 million project.

The Obama Foundation also is planning to rely on an army of unpaid volunteers to run it, even though Jarrett herself draws a $740,000 salary, according to the New York Post.

Some have said that the money spent on the vanity project — dubbed by The Economist as Obama’s “monument to himself” — might have been better used on a noble liberal cause such as feeding the hungry.

Land acknowledgements like the one offered by Jarrett have become a popular trope among leftists with the subtext seemingly tied into the fringe arguments for open borders.

Singer Billie Eilish faced backlash from Native-American tribes in February after declaring that “No one is illegal on stolen land” in an attempt to condemn ICE’s immigration-enforcement efforts.

A statement released by the Tongva tribe said Eilish had not spoken to them about returning the land on which her 2,100 square-foot mansion in Los Angeles was built.

“As the First People of the greater Los Angeles basin, we do understand that her home is situated in our ancestral land,” said the statement.

“We have reached out to her team to express our appreciation for her comments,” it continued. “It is our hope that in future discussions, the tribe can explicitly be referenced to ensure the public understands that the greater Los Angeles basin remains Gabrieleno Tongva territory.”

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

Vandals Accused of Sabotaging Trump’s Reflecting Pool Beautification

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Vandals Accused of Sabotaging Trump’s Reflecting Pool Beautification

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) President Donald Trump revealed that vandals were to blame for putting chemicals in the National Mall’s Reflecting Pool that likely caused a new resurfacing job to begin peeling.

“Things are really looking good in our Nation’s Capital, and add to that the fact that when I became President, Crime was rampant, and now, Washington, D.C., is one of the Safest Cities anywhere in the United States,” he wrote Friday in a post to Truth Social. “However, we’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool, which sits between The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial.”

Leftists have gleefully mocked the degradation of the iconic public space following Trump’s roughly $14 million restoration project to fix the leaking pool.

Some, during a recent protes,t wore T-shirts identifying themselves as “Antifa Algae” while chanting slogans such as “Algae’s smarter than MAGA.”

The Reflecting Pool previously underwent a nearly $35 million renovation during the Obama presidency that involved installing a pump system to draw water from the contaminated Potomac River via the nearby Tidal Basin.

Although algae reportedly has been a persistent problem since the 1920s, a Washington Post article claimed that this year’s was one of the heaviest blooms on record when it began shortly after the completion of Trump’s project, part of which involved his promise to clean the water and remove the algae.

“It will look far more beautiful, more beautiful than it did in 1922 when they built it,” Trump said of the project, which he first undertook in April.

Yet, with the return of the algae, memes began to circulate on social media, some of which showed Randy Quaid’s “Cousin Eddie” character from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation appearing to contaminate the Reflecting Pool.

It quickly became evident that life was imitating art, with ecoterrorists actively trying to use chemical agents to contaminate both the Reflecting Pool and the National Lawn.

Park Rangers discovered faint traces of a giant “8647” message on the Mall just opposite the pool that was made using some form of herbicide. The numerical code has been used by former FBI Director James Comey and others to signal support for Trump’s assassination.

Vandals likewise reportedly targeted the newly installed “American Flag blue” pool liner, attempting to cut pieces from it. Trump further said that they were suspected of using chemical agents in the pool to cause the liner to peel.

“Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed,” Trump wrote. “No different than the chemicals that were used on the National Mall, they used something similar in the Reflecting Pool to try to destroy and demean our beautiful work.”

On Friday, David Hearn, a three-time Olympic canoeist, was arrested for alleged vandalism after claiming he had noticed a piece of the liner floating in the water while cycling past.

Hearn insisted that he was not responsible, according to the Washington Post.

“I didn’t vandalize anything,” he said.

A second cyclist was also reportedly arrested for attempting to grab a hose that was being used for algae cleanup.

The National Guard is now patrolling the area in an effort to prevent further vandalism.

But Trump pledged to remain undeterred in his efforts to beautify D.C.

“The algae is 75% gone, and the condition will soon be completely remedied, and the area that was vandalized, fortunately, is just a small area of damage, and will be fixed early next week,” he wrote.

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

‘I Did It’: Footage Reveals Karmelo Anthony Stabbing and Aftermath

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‘I Did It’: Footage Reveals Karmelo Anthony Stabbing and Aftermath

(Headline USA) Newly released video from an officer’s body camera and a surveillance camera at a Texas running track captures the moments after a teenage athlete fatally stabbed another teen from a rival team in the stadium bleachers during a high school meet last year.

Karmelo Anthony, 19, was convicted of murder on June 10 in the death of Austin Metcalf, 17, and sentenced to 35 years in prison. A jury rejected Anthony’s claims of self-defense. The videos were included in a batch of evidence released by the Collin County court following the conclusion of the trial.

The surveillance video shows the track and bleachers on a rainy day. Suddenly a figure wearing a gray sweatshirt is seen popping up from behind a yellow tent and then running down the steps. The video has no sound.

He got to the bottom of the bleachers, tripped and fell on the ground, and then kept running along the edge of the fencing that separates the bleachers from the running track. He stopped briefly, turned to look at what appeared to be someone chasing him, and then kept running.

After making his way part way around the track, he was joined by an unidentified person. They stopped to talk and then hugged. They started walking again and were joined by another person. After talking more, Anthony walked toward the fence where he appeared to meet up with a police officer.

The officer put him in handcuffs and walked him toward the police cruiser. Anthony obeyed the officer’s commands and then started crying.

“I’m not alleged, I did it… He put his hands on me,” Anthony said in a broken voice. “I told him not to. He put his hands on me.”

The officers escorted him to the police cruiser and placed him inside.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Sean Penn Planning to Direct a J6 Buddy Film

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Sean Penn Planning to Direct a J6 Buddy Film

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Hollywood has tapped one of its most celebrated retards to helm an apparent propaganda picture about the heroism of Capitol Police on Jan. 6.

Rumors about the still-untitled project leaked last week, including word that it will be written, directed and co-produced by Sean Penn.

The Warner Brothers movie is currently slated for a mid-2027 release, Deadline reported. Perennial awards-season failure Bradley Cooper is said to be attached as its star, in a disappointing turn for those who admired his work in American Sniper.

The film’s bizarre tagline has also generated buzz, describing it as “an unexpected story about friendship.”

While plot details remained scant, movie reps said the protagonist would be based on a real person.

The account StopHate.com, which is dedicated to debunking J6 disinformation, subsequently revealed that Penn may have a connection to alleged perjurer Michael Fanone via fellow Trump Derangement Syndrome patient Kathy Griffin, who is Penn’s neighbor.

It speculated that the substance of the movie was likely to be ripped directly from the discredited report of the Jan. 6 Committee, where Fanone testified that he had been “grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country.”

Bodycam footage released earlier this year under court order confirmed that Fanone had lied under oath about key details, including his whereabouts during the four-hour, mostly peaceful uprising to protest Congress’s certification of the dubious 2020 election.

Penn attended the J6 Committee’s 2022 show-hearings, where he sat between Fanone and fellow police responder Daniel Hodges, the AP reported.

Yet, some wonder if Warner Brothers’s pending acquisition by pro-Trump Paramount CEO David Ellison could force the unhinged actor to dial it back a notch.

“[I]nsiders insist the film is not really about Jan. 6 and is only tangentially related,” Variety wrote.

Penn’s portrayal of the mentally disabled Sam Dawson in 2001’s I Am Sam fell short of an Academy Award, perhaps helping to inspire the silver-screen axiom “Never go full retard.”

But Penn himself has bucked that advice at every opportunity in his political activism, hobnobbing with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and Mexican druglord El Chapo, and requiring a rescue while staging a photo-op after Hurricane Katrina.

For his bungled attempts at virtue signaling, Penn has been validated along the way with three Academy Awards — including one for his portrayal of notorious paederast Harvey Milk in an eponymous 20009 biopic.

The man who launched to stardom playing the stoner Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High also stretched his acting muscles by portraying a villainous ICE agent in last year’s Antifa schmoozefest One Battle After Another, garnering his third Oscar. However, Penn has given at least one of the golden statuettes to Ukrainian autocrat Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Penn acknowledged that his poor mental health forced him to skip the most recent Oscar ceremony, saying he found it “anxiety- and dread-inducing” to be in a room with more than eight people.

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

US Reaches World Cup Knockout Round w/ 2nd Straight Victory

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US Reaches World Cup Knockout Round w/ 2nd Straight Victory

(Headline USA) Christian Pulisic’s injury absence didn’t hurt the United States one bit.

The Americans advanced to the knockout round of the World Cup without their injured star forward, beating Australia 2-0 on Friday for their second straight victory in the expanded 48-team tournament. The U.S. then won Group D when Paraguay beat Turkey 1-0 late Friday in Santa Clara, California.

“C.P. is a fantastic player — the quality and the leadership that he gives us,” said Folarin Balogun, who scored two goals in the 4-1 victory over Paraguay on June 12. “We didn’t have him today, but I think you saw we’re still capable to go out there and get a result and put up a performance.”

As the Group D winner, the U.S. will play a round-of-32 match on July 1 in Santa Clara, California, against a third-place group finisher.

Pulisic, who plays for AC Milan and has 33 goals in 87 international appearances, missed Friday’s match because of a calf injury.

Playing without a talent like Pulisic could have derailed previous American World Cup teams. But much has changed since the last time the U.S. hosted the World Cup in 1994, when it advanced by being one of the best third-place teams. The Americans lost to eventual champion Brazil in the round of 16.

The U.S. has won consecutive games at a World Cup for the first time since 1930. The Americans have scored six goals, one off their record for a World Cup, and received contributions throughout their roster.

Alex Freeman, the youngest player on the team at 21 and the son of former NFL wide receiver and Super Bowl champion Antonio Freeman, made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute off a set piece. Freeman headed in a deflected shot by Sergiño Dest for his first career World Cup goal. The goal was confirmed after a video review.

“(He) is doing a fantastic job,” coach Mauricio Pochettino said of Freeman. “The evolution is massive. He’s so humble. He wants to learn. He always listens. He’s a player that you really enjoy being with him. Not only coaching, but being with him.”

The U.S. took a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute after a run down the left sideline by Balogun.

He directed a centering pass toward striker Ricardo Pepi, who started in place of Pulisic. The ball never reached Pepi, deflecting off Australia defender Cameron Burgess and into the Socceroos’ net for an own-goal.

“I want to be dangerous, I want to create opportunities,” Balogun said. “It might not always be myself that scores, but if I can force an error that gives us the lead, then for me it’s like a goal as well. It was a special start to the game to give us the momentum.”

The Americans did not score after halftime, but the way they so thoroughly dominated Australia in the opening 45 minutes left an impression on Socceroos coach Tony Popovic.

“It did not surprise us because their quality is clear,” Popovic said. “Their power is clear. Their athleticism is clear. They are not surprising in what they did.”

Expectations will only increase for the U.S. as momentum builds around the team. The Americans’ start to the tournament has not changed Pochettino’s perception of his squad and its potential.

“I think it’s much better when you show good performances and win the games,” Pochettino said. “I think that makes it easier, everything. But, at the same time, it’s (important) to keep believing.”

The U.S. learned it can get out of the group stage without Pulisic. And it has the roster to make a deep run.

“We know how vital Christian is to the team and how much he can contribute in the game,” Freeman said. “For us it was, we have Ricardo Pepi, who came in and had an amazing game. I think that just shows how (good) our roster is.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

President Donald Trump Unveils the New Air Force One

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President Donald Trump Unveils the New Air Force One

(Headline USA) President Donald Trump on Friday showed off the new Air Force One, a formerly Qatari-owned jumbo jet that has been converted into the official U.S. presidential aircraft.

The new aircraft eschews the Kennedy-era robin’s egg blue exterior of the old plane for a bolder look, with the underbelly of the plane painted navy blue with a red stripe above it. The plane’s left side, where the president boards, features the presidential seal, while the tail of the aircraft has a massive American flag on it.

“This plane was transformed into a flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody has ever seen before,” Trump said from inside the massive Joint Base Andrews hangar, as a couple hundred assembled Air Force personnel looked on. He spoke after stepping off the new plane in a dramatic flourish, as his signature tune “God Bless the USA” played.

He confirmed that he would be taking the new jet to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, next month and indicated he would be returning to China “at some point,” presumably a reference to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that China is hosting in November. His return from the Group of 7 summit in France this week was the last planned trip aboard the old Air Force One, he said.

“Now, when we land at airports in London and in Germany and different places, nobody tops this one, and that’s the way we have to have it for our country,” Trump said, noting that the colors and the design were to “my taste, I will say.”

He added that the new Air Force One will do a flyover during the July 4 celebrations next month.

The gift from Qatar is serving as a “bridge” aircraft to carry the president until the new planes ordered directly from Boeing arrive. That is currently slated for 2028.

The administration formally accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar last year to be used as the presidential airplane, despite questions about the ethics and legality of accepting such an expensive gift from a foreign government. Trump has insisted in the past that he would not fly around in the Qatari jet once he leaves office and said it would instead be donated to a future presidential library.

Trump on Friday said the U.S. was in a “little bit of a logjam” as they awaited the delivery of the new jets directly from Boeing, which had originally been scheduled for 2024 but have been delayed. He recalled asking the emir of Qatar for use of one of their planes.

“See, a normal president wouldn’t do this. A normal president wants to stay away from aircraft,” Trump said Friday. “But our country has to be represented properly.”

The Air Force said in a news release Friday that any plane deemed Air Force One “must meet rigorous security requirements” and that the Qatari plane “was modified under a disciplined engineering approach that prioritized these exact core capabilities above all else.” The Air Force also said “much of the previous head of state interior layout” of the plane was kept intact.

The Air Force has said in the past that security modifications to the jet would cost less than $400 million.

Trump’s efforts to reimagine the presidential airplane date back to his first administration, when he directed that an incoming fleet of new jets would adopt a color scheme that was nearly identical to that of his personal airplane. Then-President Joe Biden reversed the decision in March 2023 as an Air Force review suggested that the darker colors could increase costs and delay delivery of the new jets, but once Trump returned to office, he returned to his desired colors for the plane.

Other government jets that carry other top administration officials will also use the similar red, white and navy color scheme, the Air Force said earlier this year.

An Air Force spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive plans, told The Associated Press that the two current planes, known as VC-25As, will not be retiring. Instead, they will remain in the fleet until the new Boeing planes, referred to as VC-25Bs, come into service, the spokesperson said.

It is unclear how the older jets will be used but the spokesperson said that both the Qatari jet as well as the VC-25As will be available for use and “the Presidential Airlift Group will select the appropriate aircraft for each mission based on operational requirements.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

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