President Donald Trump was headed to Dallas for the Republican midterm convention Wednesday when his departure was delayed at Joint Base Andrews. Before he could take off, an emergency slide on the new Air Force One suddenly deployed.
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The president waited about 20 minutes inside Marine One while crews dealt with it. They removed the slide, hauling it away in the back of a pickup truck, before Trump took off for Dallas.
A person briefed on what happened told Fox News the slide was triggered accidentally.
Trump says plane was safe to fly
Trump described the work on the slide as a safety check, saying crews wanted to make sure everything “works perfectly.”
Then came the follow-up questions.
Reporters asked the president why crews were checking the slide and whether there was a security concern with the plane.
“No, they were checking it before and they just wanted to make sure, so they’ve, I guess they’ve already put it up,” Trump said. “They want to make everything work perfectly.”
When asked if he was sure the plane was safe to fly, Trump said he was, otherwise he “wouldn’t be on it.”
The jet’s eventful history
The jet is the $400 million Boeing 747 donated by Qatar and recently retrofitted for presidential use.
It’s already had an eventful few months.
Back in July, security concerns in Turkey led to an elaborate plane switch.
Trump boarded the old Air Force One, then was secretly moved off the plane using a catering truck before flying out on a different military jet.
The original Air Force One took off as a decoy.
The New York Times reported on the decoy and other security concerns involving the plane, citing sources within the administration. Reporters involved in that coverage later faced subpoenas from the Trump administration seeking information about their sources.
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