Trump accepting $400M Qatar plane could cause ‘security problems’ as he begins Saudi Arabia trip: Live updates

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Elon Musk may be winding down his time in Washington D.C. but he’s staying close to Donald Trump’s side, including joining the president on his Middle East trip.

Musk and several of the biggest names in American businesses attended a Saudi-U.S. investment forum in Riyadh on Tuesday, joining Trump and the Saudi crown prince for a lavish luncheon.

The Tesla founder traveled to Saudi Arabia independently of Air Force One. He is, however, listed as one of the speaker’s at Trump’s forum. Trump introduced Musk to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.

A crowd of the who’s who on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley also is there, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altma, Musk’s brother Kimbal, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, Amazon’s Andy Jassy, Google’s Ruth Porat, and Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

President Donald Trump has brushed off criticism about accepting a lavish $400 million double-decker jet as a gift from the Qatari Royal Family for possible use as Air Force One.

But, alongside the ethics concerns are the security ones.

Retrofitting the 13-year-old aircraft to current Air Force One requirements would take years of work and billions of dollars.

For a plane to bear the presidential moniker, it needs an array of communication and satellite upgrades, most of which are classified.

And former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall pointed out to the Washington Post: ‘We would have to be sure nobody had planted bugs on the airplane.’

All of this could take years. But Trump could wave the requirements if he’d like to use the plane while in office. He toured the plane (see above) when it was parked at the Palm Beach airport in February.

Boeing is outfitting two 747s to serve as Air Force One but the project has faced costly and years-long delays, much to Trump’s frustration.

President Donald Trump received the royal welcome in Saudi Arabia, his first major overseas trip of his second term.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud gave Trump the kind of reception the president adores – an elaborate ceremony featuring military might, escorts on horse back for the Beast, and a royal purple carpet. The national anthems of both nations played.

Trump, in a purple tie for the occasion, chatted amiably with MBS, as the Saudi Crown Prince is known. Formal introductions were made of the delegations and an elaborate coffee and tea ceremony took place.