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Trump: Cancel Boeing’s Air Force One contract

'I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number,' he says.

By Louis Nelson 12/06/16 11:50 AM EST

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday called for the cancellation of a Defense Department contract with Boeing to build the next generation of presidential aircraft, decrying the deal as too expensive.

“Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!” the president-elect wrote on Twitter.

Later Tuesday morning, Trump spoke briefly with the assembled media in the lobby of Trump Tower, where he elaborated on his Twitter post decrying Boeing's Air Force One project.

“The plane is totally out of control. It’s going to be over $4 billion for Air Force One program and I think it’s ridiculous," he said. "I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money.”

The president-elect's most recent financial disclosure form, filed in May and detailing his 2015 holdings, showed that the Manhattan billionaire owned between $50,001 and $100,000 worth of stock in Boeing, a purchase he announced on Twitter in 2013. Jason Miller, a spokesman for Trump, said Tuesday morning that Trump sold all of his stocks last June.

Miller added that the exact details of Trump's desire to cancel the Boeing order would be dealt with after he is inaugurated next month. The post to Twitter and subsequent remark to reporters inside Trump Tower "really speaks to the president-elect’s focus on keeping costs down across the board," Miller said.

Boeing stock slumped Tuesday morning in the wake of the president-elect's remark, but rebounded somewhat as the morning progressed.

The Pentagon announced the deal with Boeing last January, awarding an initial contract worth nearly $26 million for initial research for the new planes, according to Reuters. The Defense Department awarded an additional $127.3 million contract in July to develop interior, power and electronic specifications for the next-generation aircraft, according to FlightGlobal, a publication that covers the aviation industry.

"We are currently under contract for $170 million to help determine the capabilities of these complex military aircraft that serve the unique requirements of the President of the United States," Boeing said in a statement released Tuesday morning. "We look forward to working with the U.S. Air Force on subsequent phases of the program allowing us to deliver the best planes for the President at the best value for the American taxpayer."

The Air Force said previously that it had earmarked $1.65 billion for two new presidential aircraft, which will be four-engine Boeing 747-8s.

In addition to the presidential aircraft that Trump will fly on as president, the Manhattan billionaire maintains a personal fleet that includes two planes and three helicopters. The New York Times reported last April that four of Trump's five aircraft are more than 20 years old, which is rare for someone of the president-elect's wealth. According to the Times, Trump's largest, and favorite, aircraft from the fleet is his 1991 Boeing 757, which has brushed 24-karat gold fixtures and leather toilet seats.

President Barack Obama voiced a similar concern shortly after taking office in 2009, when Reuters reported that he told a group of lawmakers that costs for a Lockheed-Martin program to replace the presidential helicopter fleet had "gone amok." He told that group, gathered at the White House, that reining in military spending would be "one of our highest priorities" and added that "the helicopter I have now seems perfectly adequate to me."


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http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-boeing-air-force-one-232243