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New Air Force One takes flight as Trump unveils revamped presidential aircraft
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President Donald Trump on Friday unveiled a newly refurbished presidential aircraft at Joint Base Andrews, touting its size, luxury and updated red, white and blue paint scheme as the Air Force prepares the jet for service.
The Boeing 747-8i, donated by the government of Qatar and modified for presidential use, is expected to serve as an interim Air Force One while Boeing continues work on two delayed VC-25B replacement aircraft.
Standing alongside Air Force leaders and service members, Trump said the aircraft’s most noticeable feature is its size.
«The biggest difference is the difference in size. It’s like virtually double the size,» Trump said.
AIR FORCE ONE SCRAPS ICONIC KENNEDY-ERA PAINT SCHEME FOR TRUMP-APPROVED RED, WHITE, BLUE DESIGN
Reporters were later given a brief tour of the aircraft, which featured wood-paneled interiors, gold-toned fixtures and tan-and-gold seating throughout. Spacious cabins, large television screens and polished metallic finishes gave the jet an upscale feel.
Near the front of the aircraft, reporters viewed a private suite with lounge-style seating before passing a conference room featuring a large table, a painting of the Washington Monument overlooking the Reflecting Pool and a decorative bookcase surrounding a television screen.
The aircraft’s press cabin spans the width of the rear section of the jet and includes 24 seats arranged across three sections. Each seat is equipped with its own entertainment screen, and the cabin appeared significantly larger than the press area aboard the current Air Force One fleet.
The Air Force said the aircraft will soon begin commissioning flights, a final phase of testing before entering operational service.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO: THE QATAR AIR FORCE ONE JET
US President Donald Trump steps out of the new Air Force One, gifted to him by Qatar, in a hangar at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on June 19, 2026. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
«The safety and security of the commander in chief is our highest priority,» Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said. «From the beginning, we meticulously evaluated every requirement to accelerate delivery while maintaining the high standards expected of the presidential mission.»
Trump said he sought the aircraft after becoming frustrated with delays to Boeing’s Air Force One replacement program and growing comparisons between the aging U.S. presidential fleet and newer aircraft operated by foreign governments.
«I asked the Emir if we could use the brand new 747,» Trump said, noting the aircraft had relatively few flight hours and describing the current presidential fleet as aging.
«Our country has to be represented properly,» he added.
AIR FORCE ONE GLITCH REVIVES REPLACEMENT PUSH AS WHITE HOUSE SAYS IT ‘PROVES TRUMP WAS RIGHT AGAIN’
Donald Trump speaks in front of the new Air Force One, gifted to him by by Qatar, in a hangar at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on June 19, 2026. White House officials bade farewell on June 18, 2026, to one of the two jets that have been used to transport US presidents for more than 30 years. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
The aircraft features Trump’s preferred red, white and dark blue color scheme, replacing the light blue-and-white design that has defined presidential aircraft since the Kennedy administration. Earlier this year, the Air Force confirmed the updated paint scheme would become the standard across the presidential and executive airlift fleet, including the VC-25B aircraft currently under development.
Trump also praised the aircraft’s interior craftsmanship and described it as «considered the world’s most luxurious plane.»
Trump said the aircraft could also play a prominent role in next year’s America 250 celebration, predicting it would lead a July 4 flyover over Washington featuring fighter jets and other military aircraft. The president called it «a flyover like no flyover» and said the display could include F-22s, F-35s and other aircraft from across the U.S. military.
The Pentagon accepted the Qatari aircraft last year and has spent recent months preparing it for presidential service. Officials have said the timeline moved more quickly than the broader Air Force One replacement effort because the aircraft’s interior required fewer modifications than the VC-25B program.
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Trump also praised the more than 250 personnel who worked around the clock to prepare the aircraft for service, saying the jet was transformed into what he called a «flying White House» in roughly 10 months.
The jet is expected to bridge the gap until Boeing delivers two next-generation Air Force One aircraft, which are not expected to be completed for roughly two more years.
Fox News Digital’s Andre Tinoco contributed to this report.
donald trump, travel, air force
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Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., took to the Senate floor Wednesday to call out Neville Roy Singham, saying the communist tech tycoon’s vast nonprofit network is helping China wage «political warfare» against the U.S.
Singham, a 72-year-old American who sold his tech company for $785 million in 2017 and now lives in Shanghai, has funneled $278 million into the broad network of nonprofits since 2017, according to a Fox News Digital investigation. These groups regularly organize and participate in anti-ICE, anti-Israel and pro-Iran demonstrations.
«From his Shanghai office, which he shares with a CCP propaganda outlet whose avowed mission is to ‘tell China’s story well,’ Singham began funding a complex network of left-wing NGOs and nonprofits that advance the interests of the Chinese Communist Party,» Banks said.
SEE IT: GOP SENATOR FLIPS SCRIPT ON AGITATORS TIED TO PRO-CCP, SINGHAM NETWORK
Jodie Evans and Neville Roy Singham are pictured together. (Getty Images)
«Code Pink, that radical organization that chases me and other senators throughout the halls of Congress, used to, on occasion, condemn CCP human rights abuses,» he added. «After Singham started lavishly funding the group—and married its co-founder—Code Pink stopped criticizing the Chinese government and started defending it.»
Code Pink, which was co-founded by Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, regularly confronts lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and publicly states that «China is Not Our Enemy.» Evans and Singham have not responded to Fox News Digital’s repeated requests for comment.
Fox News Digital obtained footage of Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., being targeted by Code Pink on Wednesday over the conflict in Iran. Scott pushed back, questioning whether the group was bothered by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
TRUMP WELCOMES NETANYAHU TO WHITE HOUSE AS RAGING IRAN WAR THREATENS TO SOUR US-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP
The Code Pink agitators did not respond to Scott’s question.
Banks’ floor speech also addressed Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s call to combat the far-left political terrorism that has taken root across the globe and in the U.S.
Rubio spoke to more than 60 countries at a summit in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, saying that networks are coordinating across multiple countries, providing training instructions and using encrypted communication to foment unrest. He said that international cooperation is critical to disrupting the financing of dangerous organizations, and that some are working with hostile foreign states.
JIM BANKS, GOP LAWMAKERS RALLY BEHIND DOJ PROBE INTO ALLEGED CCP-LINKED FUNDING NETWORK
«For far too long, however, our counterterrorism doctrine has had a blind spot – a blind spot when it comes to extremist violence from the political left,» Rubio said. «Even today, the very idea that far-left terrorism could be a serious threat is treated as a right-wing fever dream, or worse, as a dangerous fascist conspiracy.»
Singham currently faces a grand jury investigation in the Southern District of New York, a probe which was authorized by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. The grand jury investigation focuses on Singham’s finances, and seeks to uncover any financial crimes that have taken place as he funds his pro-CCP network of nonprofits. Singham has not been charged to date.
Earlier this year, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held a meeting in New York with Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon, where he urged the firm to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation into Singham’s financial network, according to sources familiar with the discussion.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
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One source familiar with the meeting told Fox News Digital the exchange was amicable rather than adversarial, adding that Solomon signaled Goldman Sachs was prepared to cooperate with the Justice Department’s probe.
«All distributions from Mr. Singham’s donor-advised fund were made to legally recognized nonprofit organizations, as determined by the IRS,» a Goldman Sachs spokesperson told Fox News Digital. «No distributions have been made from the account since August 2023, and it was closed in early 2024.»
scott bessent, politics, fbi, senate, china, capitol protests
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Ecuador: Fiscalía investiga si tres jueces recibieron dinero de una empresa china a cambio de un fallo favorable
Una de las condenas económicas más elevadas impuestas al Estado ecuatoriano por un litigio contractual pasó de los tribunales a una investigación penal. La Fiscalía General del Estado indaga si la sentencia que obligó al país a pagar USD 59,3 millones a la empresa china China Railway No. 9 Engineering Group fue el resultado de un esquema de corrupción que habría alcanzado a tres jueces de la Corte Nacional de Justicia, quienes ahora son investigados por el presunto delito de cohecho.
La pesquisa se hizo pública el 30 de julio, cuando fiscales y agentes de la Policía Nacional allanaron inmuebles vinculados con los magistrados Milton V., Patricio S. e Iván L., integrantes del tribunal de casación que emitió el fallo cuestionado. Durante las diligencias fueron incautados teléfonos celulares, computadoras y documentos que serán sometidos a pericias para determinar si existieron pagos indebidos relacionados con la decisión judicial.
El origen del conflicto se remonta a 2015, cuando el Ministerio de Educación adjudicó a China Railway No. 9 Engineering Group un contrato cercano a los USD 196 millones para levantar 200 unidades educativas prefabricadas en distintas provincias del país. El proyecto formaba parte del plan de modernización de la infraestructura escolar impulsado por el gobierno de Rafael Correa y buscaba reemplazar establecimientos considerados obsoletos mediante un sistema de construcción industrializada.
Sin embargo, la ejecución del contrato comenzó a acumular retrasos, observaciones técnicas y controversias sobre el cumplimiento de los plazos. En 2018, el Ministerio de Educación resolvió terminar unilateralmente el contrato al concluir que la empresa había incumplido sus obligaciones. La decisión abrió un prolongado litigio en el que la constructora reclamó una indemnización por los perjuicios que, según sostuvo, le ocasionó la terminación anticipada del convenio.
El proceso atravesó distintas instancias judiciales hasta llegar a la Corte Nacional de Justicia mediante un recurso de casación. Allí, el tribunal integrado por los tres jueces ahora investigados dejó en firme una sentencia que condenó al Estado ecuatoriano a pagar USD 59.334.103,17 a favor de la compañía china. Ese fallo se convirtió en uno de los más costosos para las finanzas públicas derivados de una controversia contractual.
La decisión judicial permaneció firme hasta que una investigación completamente distinta abrió una nueva línea de sospechas. La Fiscalía informó que la causa por presunto cohecho nació a partir del testimonio anticipado rendido por Michael Ismael H., uno de los sentenciados dentro del caso Plaga, la investigación que desarticuló una presunta red de corrupción integrada por jueces, abogados, funcionarios judiciales, policías y otros operadores que, según el Ministerio Público, obtenían resoluciones favorables mediante pagos ilícitos.
De acuerdo con la versión entregada por ese colaborador, durante un encuentro realizado en Guayaquil conoció información según la cual los tres magistrados habrían gestionado la emisión de la sentencia favorable a China Railway a cambio de dinero. Algunas publicaciones periodísticas señalan que el testimonio menciona un supuesto pago de USD 30.000, aunque ese dato forma parte de la declaración del colaborador y constituye una hipótesis investigativa que aún no ha sido probada en un proceso judicial.
Con base en esos antecedentes, la Fiscalía abrió una investigación previa por cohecho para establecer si la resolución de casación estuvo influenciada por beneficios económicos indebidos. Por ahora no existen personas procesadas ni se han formulado cargos. Las autoridades buscan determinar si los elementos incautados durante los allanamientos permiten corroborar o descartar la versión que dio origen a la investigación.
Hasta el momento, la Fiscalía tampoco ha informado si representantes de China Railway o terceros relacionados con la empresa forman parte de la indagación. La investigación se concentra, por ahora, en establecer si existió una contraprestación económica destinada a influir en la actuación de los magistrados que conocieron el recurso de casación.
El caso amplía el alcance de las investigaciones derivadas del expediente Plaga, que inicialmente se centró en decisiones judiciales vinculadas con personas privadas de libertad y presuntas organizaciones criminales. Ahora, las pesquisas alcanzan una sentencia con importantes consecuencias económicas para el Estado y sitúan bajo escrutinio a magistrados de la máxima instancia de la justicia ordinaria ecuatoriana.
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