Trump Flails When Asked Why He Isn’t Flying His New Plane Home

Nobody is buying President Donald Trump’s shady excuse for leaving Air Force One behind in Europe.

While taking questions from the press at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday, Trump was asked to respond to speculation that security concerns had forced him to ditch the newly-renovated, Qatar-gifted plane after the president scrapped his own ceasefire deal with Iran.

“You’ve spoken today, twice, about them possibly assassinating you, and possibly being successful. Did that concern have something to do with—” asked the New York Post’s Stephen Nelson, before the president interrupted him.

“Well, I speak about it a lot because, you know, the life of a president is very dangerous,” Trump replied, before comparing himself to a racecar driver and a bull rider.

“I like being number one on TikTok better, but I’m number one on the list for killing,” Trump added.

“But why aren’t you flying the new plane home?” asked The New York Times’ Shawn McCreesh.

“It’s flying to Europe to one of the big bases, two or three of the big bases, where we can show it to the people,” Trump said, explaining that the plane would be taken around “so the soldiers can see it, because it’s truly magnificent.”

But not everyone was convinced by Trump’s explanation.

“The most likely reason for this is that the ‘new’ ex-Qatari jet doesn’t have the self-defense capabilities needed when flying from Turkey while in a shooting war with Iran,” The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg wrote on X. “The actual VC-25 aircraft does have those capabilities.”

George Conway, an anti-Trump activist, suggested that perhaps the plane hadn’t received all the necessary security capabilities “because Trump wants to keep it if he leaves office.”

The Air Force said it spent around $400 million renovating the plane, changing the cabin layout, communications system, and security upgrades. That doesn’t account for the taxpayer-funded continued maintenance of the plane, either. The jet—one of the largest presidential gifts ever—is valued at $400 million, and will be moved to Trump’s presidential library foundation in 2029, where it may be available for him to use as a private citizen.

The Trump administration plans on sending election monitors to 15 jurisdictions in six states—four of which are deep blue, with the remaining being swing states—for the remaining primary elections this summer.

Monitors will be placed in Arizona, Michigan, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Virginia. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division chief Harmeet Dhillon made the announcement in a video posted on social media Tuesday.

“The Department of Justice, like it has in Republican and Democrat administrations in the past, is sending election monitors to places where there have been problems with the integrity of elections,” Dhillon later said on the Joe Pags Show, a conservative radio show, before reading the list of states and the specific areas that would be watched.

“Boston, Maricopa, Fairfax County, Detroit, Ramsey, Prince William, Lansing, East Lansing,” Dhillon said. “Some of these jurisdictions are jurisdictions where I’ve got personal knowledge of there being problems in the past ... the more eyes on elections, in my opinion, the better.”

President Trump also proposed sending monitors to California last year and even took open requests and complaints at a tip line. California Governor Gavin Newsom moved against that decision this week by declaring ballot seizure to be a felony.

While Dhillon sold the move as business as usual, this move comes as the administration ramps up its baseless claims of widespread election fraud. Trump has been claiming election fraud for years (in cases where he loses), more recently pushing for a vote-by-mail ban and a voter ID requirement that even his own party can’t get behind.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear wants answers about what is going on with his state’s senior Republican senator, Mitch McConnell.

Beshear, a Democrat, wrote a letter to McConnell’s office Wednesday asking for an update on the former Senate majority leader’s health and well-being. McConnell has been in George Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C., for nearly a month amid unconfirmed reports that he is brain-dead.

“Over the last several weeks, Kentuckians have grown increasingly concerned about the health and well-being of Sen. McConnell. As Governor—and a fellow public official who understands the commitment we’ve made to the people we serve—I am requesting the Senator provide an update on his current health status,” Beshear said in a statement. “Allowing speculation to continue in the media is not fair to the Senator or to Kentuckians, and my hope is that this provides him the opportunity to share the information in a transparent manner, direct from the source. I wish him a safe and speedy recovery.”

McConnell’s office is dodging questions about his condition, and McConnell himself has not said anything publicly. Several Republicans claim to have spoken with the senator, without proof. An ambulance was called to McConnell’s Washington, D.C., home after he fell unconscious on June 14, and he has been in the hospital since then.

McConnell’s wife, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, was visiting China at the time he was hospitalized but didn’t cut her trip short and remains in the country, saying in a statement that “the Senator’s health did not warrant an immediate return to the US.” While on her trip, she met with various Chinese leaders, including Vice President Han Zheng.

This has only increased confusion about McConnell’s condition, with conspiracy theorists even alleging some sort of nefarious involvement from China. Beshear’s statement and letter echo public concerns as to why McConnell’s condition is being kept secret and allowing rumors to fester.

Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has sent letters to several states threatening to criminally prosecute election officials who fail to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls.

Secretaries of state were warned that the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division was authorized to prosecute criminal violations if election officials failed to properly maintain their Statewide Voter Registration Lists, or SVRLs, according to letters obtained by ProPublica.

“Any election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains noncitizens on the state’s SVRL or facilitates noncitizens in receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability,” the letters stated.

The letters also warned that any “intentional act that is aimed at diluting the votes of citizens” could be considered conspiracy.

David Becker, a former prosecutor, told ProPublica that the administration’s threat was unprecedented. “It’s a rather transparent attempt at bullying and it’s kind of reflective of the panic that is being felt at the DOJ right now,” he said.

These letters follow the Trump administration’s monthslong campaign to sue states for their voter registration data, in order to target undocumented immigrants. Federal judges across the country have roundly rejected the administration’s efforts. Last month, a federal judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security from continuing to “haphazardly” create a database of millions of Americans it knew was “inaccurate” in order to purge noncitizens off voter rolls. Another federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order attempting to change election rules.

The issue of noncitizen voting remains small to nonexistent. In 2016, noncitizen votes accounted for just 0.0001 percent of the votes cast, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. If Republicans are really looking for election fraud, they might want to check on their own party members—or maybe their party’s leader.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was asked about his lack of “self respect” after he sat idly by and let U.S. President Donald Trump make angry, incendiary statements about taking over Greenland, restarting his war on Iran, and cutting off trade with Spain.

“Mark, you sit next to Donald Trump in moments where he talks about conquering Greenland, talked about lashing out at allies like Spain, starting trade wars—things that [don’t] seem like the old Mark Rutte would approve of,” a Danish reporter asked Rutte shortly after his meeting with Trump Wednesday. “Does this have any affect on your self-respect when you sit next to him like that and say nothing?”

“You know, what I always do is acknowledge when praise is due, and I think we should praise Donald Trump for the fact that NATO is so much stronger,” Rutte replied, dodging the question. “Of course, it has to do with the Russian threat, it has to do with the war in Ukraine, but it very much also has to do with President Trump … trying to equalize spending between the U.S. and Europe. And it makes Europe stronger. It makes Europe more relevant for the United States as a partner.”

Apparently, the short answer is no—showing such deference to Trump while he makes threats against Greenland, lobbies against Spain, and again declares war on Iran has no impact on Rutte’s self respect. But it certainly has an impact on the world’s perception of him, as he uses flattery and submission to appease Trump rather than boldly defending what was once the Western world’s most important post–Cold War institution.