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President Donald Trump is taking his first presidential flight aboard a newly retrofitted Boeing 747 serving as Air Force One on Wednesday, traveling to Medora, North Dakota, to mark the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and promote a conservation push tied to America’s 250th birthday.
“This will be the first flight of what I think is maybe the greatest commercial plane ever built. I said to Boeing, what’s the best one? He said, ‘this is the best plane ever built, and you’re going to have the privilege of flying it,'” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews.
Trump is traveling aboard a $400 million Boeing 747-8i donated by the government of Qatar and refurbished for presidential use. Trump is also set to meet with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and other officials in Medora, where he will mark the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and promote Roosevelt’s conservation legacy.
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“I’m excited about the first flight. It’s something nobody’s ever seen anything like it. Even you people, with all your experience and all of your talents, you will never see anything like it. They just completed it. They made it appropriate for a president,” Trump added. “That means the security and all of the different bells and whistles they put on very complex stuff.”
He said the previous plane was around 36 years old and Americans should be proud of the new plane.
“It would be parked next to the new ones like this. It really didn’t look appropriate for our country… you can do two things. You can low-key it or you can show it,” added Trump.
NEW AIR FORCE ONE TAKES FLIGHT AS TRUMP UNVEILS REVAMPED PRESIDENTIAL AIRCRAFT
Trump and Burgum will arrive to the museum with a ceremonial Rough Riders horseback escort before touring the presidential center later on Wednesday.
Roosevelt was known for his passion for the outdoors – dramatically expanding federal protection of natural resources and public lands. He established national parks, created national monuments, and strengthened the U.S. Forest Service.
“The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired,” Roosevelt famously said, which is inscribed on the museum’s wall.
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Trump will sign the “Great American Outdoors Act Reauthorization,” which centers around previous legislation signed by the 45th and 47th president but renews funding in honor of America’s 250th birthday.
The act continues investing about $1.9 billion per year for deferred maintenance projects, such as repairing roads, bridges, trails, campgrounds, visitor centers, and water systems on public lands.
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