President Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testified Tuesday at a Senate budget hearing and answered questions from U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) regarding the President’s new Air Force One jet, a controversial gift from the country of Qatar worth $1 billion by some estimates.
[NOTE: After a New York Times investigation revealed the security status of the jet was potentially vulnerable, the White House announced that the President will use the old Air Force One while the new one is getting “maxed out” with security upgrades. The Department of Justice responded to the Times exposé by seeking to subpoena phone records of the journalists who wrote the article and some of their family members.]
MURPHY: Will you make public the amount of money you’re spending to upgrade Trump’s new plane? And second, can you commit to this Congress that the committee isn’t going to take this plane with him when he leaves office?
HEGSETH: Its investment is classified. And that’s not a… pic.twitter.com/oYTuYtk8BR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026
Despite the “maxing out” of the aircraft, reportedly for security reasons, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt contradicted claims that the Qatari-gifted jet was a risk, telling TIME magazine that “the new Air Force One is perfectly safe for the President’s travels, but will receive additional upgrades and enhancements in the fall which will take approximately one month to complete.”
At the Senate hearing, Murphy told Hegseth, “Reports suggest that maybe as much as $1 billion in your base funding, an extraordinary amount of money, has been used for an upgrade, and the plane is back in the shop for a second upgrade.” Murphy added, “Obviously, we don’t need or want to disclose the details of that upgrade, but never before have you withheld from Congress and the public the amount of money.”
Murphy asked Hegseth: “Will you make public the amount of money that you are spending to upgrade this plane?” He also asked: “Can you commit to this Congress and this committee that the president isn’t going to take this plane with him when he leaves office?” When Qatar originally offered the aircraft, it was reportedly for Trump’s use while president — with a plan to transfer ownership of the jet to his library foundation when he leaves office.
Murphy added, “The only thing more insulting to the taxpayers spending money on a jet they don’t need would be for the president to take it with him, to take it out of our military inventory when he leaves office.”
Hegseth responded to Murphy by asserting that “the capabilities are, and the investment are, classified and shouldn’t be talked about in a public setting.” When Murphy reiterated, “that’s not what I’m talking about,” and repeated his question (“will you disclose the amount of money publicly?”), Hegseth said, “I would imagine as part of the regular budget process, that’s something we would look at.”
Murphy then asked if Hegseth would commit that the president wouldn’t take the jet “out of federal inventory” when he leaves office. The Defense Secretary replied, “That’s not a decision for necessarily me to make.”
Murphy didn’t just request Hegseth’s pledge on the matter — earlier this month the Senator introduced the Luxury Jet Ethics and Transparency Act that would “bar Trump from transferring the jet away from the U.S. Air Force to his personal control.” Of the plan, Murphy said: “For Donald Trump, it’s not enough to sell our national security to enrich himself. He also has to steal from American taxpayers.”