Trump Qatari Jet Is Grounded!

11 Jul 2026 · 15 min · 5 chapters

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In short

The episode argues that a Qatar-gifted Boeing 747 “new Air Force One” was grounded/unsafe for the Trump administration’s trip from Ankara to the UK due to missing security and defensive capabilities, forcing Trump to use the older Air Force One.

Guests

No podcast guests are interviewed; the host (Michael) discusses reporting and clips from Stephen Chung, Carol Lunig, and reporters from the NYT/New York Post.

Key claims

Carol Lunig’s MSNB reporting is accurate; Stephen Chung’s rebuttals on social media are “fake news” and personal attacks; the retrofit took about five months but allegedly omitted command-and-control/situation-room security features; Trump plans to eventually take the aircraft for himself, violating the emoluments clause.

Notable examples

Lunig’s article; Trump’s on-Air Force One comments about being “number one on the kill list”; NYT questions about why he didn’t fly the new plane; Rapid Response 47 clip claiming security upgrades.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

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Trump's Qatari Jet Scandal

0:30 to 1:21

Discussion on the security issues of Trump's new Qatari gifted Air Force One.

“the change in routine during the summer can feel daunting.”

Trump's Qatari Jet Scandal

1:27 to 2:56

Discussion on the security issues of Trump's new Qatari gifted Air Force One.

“You know when they're lying, when Stephen Chung, communications director, goes on a rampage and through social media or otherwise attacks a reporter for being a liar.”

Trump's Responses and Claims

2:56 to 4:25

Analyzing Trump’s statements regarding his security and the new plane.

“Now, Donald Trump tried to lie about it on Air Force One, on the baby blue one that we all know, the old one, and said, well, you know, I'm the number one enemy to be killed and I'm flying the new plane.”

Media Reactions and Leaks

4:25 to 7:19

Examination of media coverage and leaks related to Trump's Qatari jet.

“I like being number one on TikTok better.”

Violation of the Emoluments Clause

7:19 to 12:06

Discussion on Trump's potential violations of the Constitution regarding gifts.

“Now, let's just remind ourselves of how we got in this mess.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

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1:30Popok:The Trump administration has a tell. You know when they're lying, when Stephen Chung, communications director, goes on a rampage and through social media or otherwise attacks a reporter for being a liar. Case in point, Carol Lunig, who writes for MS Now and wrote an expose about how Donald Trump was not able to use the new Qatari gifted Air Force One to fly from Ankara Air Force Base in Turkey to the UK after the NATO summit because it is not secure from a technology standpoint, from a military standpoint, from a command and control standpoint, from a situation room in the air standpoint. It doesn't have the laser, the blinding lasers that blind missiles and the rest.

2:19Popok:So while the half a billion dollars that you and I spent for a plane that Donald Trump thinks he's going to fly away with in two years and shove into his library in Miami, while all that money is wasted and put together, I guess, leather seats and gold toilet bowls, it did not create a command and control structure or allow for a flying situation room. I thought it was odd that they were able to complete that gift in under, complete that retrofitting in under a year. But Carol Lunig reported on MS Now, will put up the article that he was grounded. Now, Donald Trump tried to lie about it on Air Force One, on the baby blue one that we all know, the old one, and said, well, you know, I'm the number one enemy to be killed and I'm flying the new plane.

3:08Popok:It's so gorgeous. I'm flying the new plane to have the U.S. troops look at it in the U.K. Does anybody believe that? Play the clip. Stephen Nelson from the New York Post. I'd like you to address speculation that you're leaving Ankara, not in the new Air Force One because of security concerns involving Iran. You've spoken today twice about them possibly assassinating you and possibly being successful. Did that concern have something to do with you? Well, I speak about it a lot because, you know, the life of a president is very dangerous. It's 5.2 percent. You know what a race car driver is? One tenth of one percent.

3:46A bull rider, that looks pretty dangerous to me. It's one tenth of one percent. No, it's 5.2 percent is you don't make it. You should have told me you're an excellent reporter. You should have told me that years ago maybe I wouldn't have run. It's a very dangerous profession. No, I'm number one on the kill list for Iran. They're lovely people. I'm number one. So I don't know. I can't tell you that. But I don't really care because I'm doing my job and I'm doing it, I hope, better than anybody's ever done it. Because we have a country that's hot and really, really successful. But I mention it only because it's on the list.

4:22I mean, it came out. There was another list came out yesterday. And I'm number one on. I like being number one on TikTok better. but I'm number one on the list for killing.

4:38Go ahead. Hey, Sean McCreish, New York Times. But why aren't you flying the new plane home? Say what? Why aren't you flying on the new Air Force One home? 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, and we'll be going home by normal methods. But we have it going to Europe to a couple of bases, actually one in particular, but it's going to go to a couple of bases stop so the soldiers can see it because it's truly magnificent.

5:10Popok:Now, remember when Donald Trump did great fanfare, liked to talk about the rich Corinthian leather and the wood paneling and the millwork and the gold, whatever, toilet bowls on it and bragging about it as he received it and gave a tour of it? Who could forget this performance? But what's missing is it doesn't have the engine to allow a president of the United States to operate, especially during wartime. Now, in fact, here's a clip from Rapid Response 47, which is Donald Trump's own rapid response organization, which has him coming out of the old Air Force One. Of course, now he's got to excuse, where's the new one?

5:53Popok:Let's play the clip. This was a gift from a country that's treated us very well. And they're an ally of us over in the Middle East, Qatar. Frankly, we couldn't build a plane like this because we wouldn't be willing to spend the kind of money necessary. They spent top dollars. So the head of Boeing said, this is considered the best 747 they've ever built. And I went to Qatar and said, I'd like to use it. The Emir, Tamim, who's a great gentleman, he said, no, no, oh, I'd like to make a contribution to the country. So it was very nice. And we're able to do it in about five months, you know, bring it up to the presidential standard, meaning security-wise.

6:36And you're going to get a kick out of it.

6:38Popok:There's just nothing like that. So here's what Stephen Chung wrote after Karol Lunig posted, Trump had to switch to his old AF-1, Air Force One, when flying from Turkey to the UK because the gifted jet he insists is great didn't have the defensive capabilities needed for safe travel amid Iran hostilities. Stephen Chung writes, Carol Lunig is a liar and this article is complete fake news. She has no idea what she's talking about. She says the White House declined to comment. Not true. We gave comments to the New York Times and many other outlets. Carol is not a real journalist, a complete fraud.

7:15Popok:That's the tell, right? We know it's true now. Now, let's just remind ourselves of how we got in this mess. There are two Air Force Ones currently being built by Boeing at a cost of$5 billion. There's cost overruns, but because of a contract signed by Donald Trump in his first term, those cost overruns are born and eaten by Boeing. They will be delivered probably at the end of this term. Trump just had to be patient and fly around with what he's flying around in now, The old Air Force won until the new ones are delivered. Oh, no. Oh, no. He needed to take a 17-year-old Qatari Boeing plane, which he believes is going to be ultimately a gift, even though it was a gift to the military and the Defense Department.

8:03Popok:He wants it to be a gift to him. So he takes the plane. He spends our money, half a billion dollars, retrofitting it, but leaves out the most important part. It's like having this beautiful antique car, you know, some sort of rare Ferrari in your driveway or Lamborghini or whatever your Jaguar, whatever your favorite car is, you know, old Corvette. And there's no engine in it. It just sits in your driveway. And what Trump wants to do is when the two new ones show up, the two new Boeing$5 billion Air Force Ones, he's going to say, well, we don't need a third. I'll just take it with me. The government will gift it to me for my service as president of the United States, working for a dollar a year.

8:50Popok:And I'll fly it off and I'll shove it into my library that I'm trying to build in Miami on the water on a free site because I stole it, the property, from a college that doesn't have the money to spare. That's what's going on. That's the connect the dots that we've been watching. So don't be fooled by the shell game of what Stephen Chung is telling you. Because whenever I hear the communications department or Rapid Response 47 say things like, she's a liar. She's not a journalist. She's a phony. You know who's a phony, Stephen Chung? You are. You are. You know, without revealing sources, I had a conversation with somebody in the media about Stephen Chung.

9:35Popok:And their impression, knowing the person, is that Stephen Chung is a survivor. And despite publicly being so disgusting and so bellicose, behind the scenes, he may be the sources of some of the leaks. I mean, this is one of the leakiest administrations we've ever had. Thank God for that. Both whistleblowers and reporting. And while the Trump administration continues to try to bar and ban reporters from being unescorted in the Pentagon to do their work, we get all of these leaks. The Situation Room. I have a question for people. Why haven't they tried to go after Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan of the New York Times?

10:22Popok:They continue to cooperate with the New York Times. Maggie Haberman wrote two weeks ago about a situation room meeting, chapter and verse, as if she was in the room and said she had recordings. Recordings of a situation room. And they're not moving to indict her. They're not moving to investigate her because they're scared. Because she said out loud in her article about that situation room, the freak out in the situation room, as part of her new book, Regime Change, she said, I have a thousand inside and outside people who have cooperated with this article, corroborating witnesses, corroborating sources, and I have recordings.

10:58Popok:See, it's like one of those movies where somebody says, hey, you take me out and thousands of envelopes containing the video get sent out to the media if I disappear. That was Maggie Abramon giving herself a life insurance policy. But is Stephen Chung behind the leaks? Is he deep throat for this administration? no pun intended um sorry about that uh we're gonna find out and we're gonna continue to follow this this kleptocracy where trump thinks he's gonna take my and your 500 billion dollars of investment into that qatari plane that's not worth the paint job that he gave it for his for the mission of being president of the united states and then say oops i'm gonna take it with me right?

11:46Popok:No, you're not. No, you're not. And Congress, which will be in the control of the Democrats, hopefully by that point, and the Senate too, are going to have a thing to say about what Donald Trump gets to line his pockets with and take out of the government, because that's a violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution. You're not allowed to take anything of value other than your paycheck as the President of the United States. We'll continue to follow it. What an amazing day of programming we have in store for you today and through the weekend here on Legal AF. Early voting has started.

12:19Popok:Hit the free subscribe button. Let's turn the odometer. Let's get to 1 ,130 ,000 subscribers this weekend. I feel like I'm doing the Jerry Lewis telethon. Let's try it together. Just hit the subscribe button. You're done. Until my next report, this is Michael. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else?

12:56Popok:All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Where? Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for$15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills. But it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Up-round payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required.

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From the publisher

Popok reports on a new scandal, as the Trump Administration bashes a reporter for leaking that the Secret Service likely grounded Trump from using his beloved golden Qatari Boeing as Air Force Once in Europe because it is not a secure command and control plane with technology to let it be a "Situation Room" in the sky.  In other words, it may look golden and fancy but it is missing mission critical equipment and technology!

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