President Donald Trump has decorated the Oval Office with numerous model airplanes, according to a new video from a top White House official.
On Tuesday, White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino posted a virtual tour of the Oval Office. The clip showed the president displaying numerous models of military jets, including a Blue Angels fighter and an F-35, as well as a large model of the new Qatar-donated Air Force One replacement.
The president’s plane collection also appears to contain a model of a passenger jet from Boom, an American company building next-generation supersonic commercial planes.
Trump has long loved planes. He was known for flying in a custom Boeing 757 during his days as a businessman and even had a short-lived Trump Shuttle airline business.
In office, that emphasis has continued.
Most controversially, he accepted a gift from Qatar of a new jet to be used as Air Force One while the military works on an official replacement.
The president has floated plans to transfer the jet to his presidential library in Miami once he leaves office.
Democrats, meanwhile, have unsuccessfully sought to block the military from spending money to retrofit the gifted jet.
The ex-Qatari jet has officially entered service for the president, but Trump said this month the military will be doing more work on it to ensure its systems are “maxed out.”
Recently, on the way back from a NATO summit in Turkey, the president raised eyebrows by switching back to the old Air Force One, prompting questions over whether the gifted jet didn’t meet security standards, especially with Iran reportedly considering plots to attack the president.
The White House has insisted the new jet is safe to fly.
“The new Air Force One is perfectly safe for the President’s travels, but will receive additional upgrades and enhancements in the fall which will take approximately one month to complete,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday. “During that time, the President will fly on the old Air Force One.”
The Trump administration has also worked to praise military pilots suspected of misconduct.
Top military leaders lionized a Blue Angels pilot who flew dangerously close to beachgoers in Pensacola, Florida, last week, even though the Blue Angels and the pilot responsible for the flyby have reportedly claimed the move was unsafe.
“The pilot found himself, unfortunately, in a situation that we would deem unsafe over the beach,” Navy Capt. Adam Bryan, commander of the Blue Angels, told reporters last week.
The reaction markedly differed from that of senior leadership.
“Flight debrief complete,” Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao wrote on social media of the incident. “No reprimands. No firings. No problem. That’s the sound of Freedom!”
A Pentagon spokesperson shared an image of the flyover with the caption “Carry on Patriots” while the White House published a cartoon-style, apparently AI-altered image with the tagline “It’s OK to love America.”
Earlier this month, the Pentagon undid the suspension of eight South Carolina National Guard helicopter pilots for a low sweep above a crowded beach during a Fourth of July event.
In March, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lifted the suspension of a group of helicopter pilots who carried out a low-altitude flyby above the Tennessee home of musician Kid Rock, a major supporter of President Trump.
