Senate Dem Confronts Hegseth About Price of Trump’s Qatari Plane Renovations: ‘We Want It Now!’

A Senate Democrat demanded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reveal how much it will cost to renovate the airplane gifted by Qatar.

Last month, President Donald Trump accepted the plane — a custom Boeing 747 — from the Qatari government. The plane was reportedly worth approximately $400 million, and it will be retrofitted to be used as a temporary replacement for Air Force One while the real one undergoes a multibillion-dollar upgrade.

On Wednesday, Hegseth appeared on Capitol Hill to testify on Trump’s 2026 Defense Department budget request. During this hearing, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) asked Hegseth how much the renovations to the Qatari plane will cost:

REED: You’ve signed a contract with a company to reconfigure the aircraft. What is the price of that contract?

HEGSETH: That cannot be revealed in this setting.

REED: Why can’t it be revealed in this setting? This is the Appropriations Committee of the United States Senate. We appropriate the money that you will spend after it’s authorized by my committee, and you cannot tell us how much the contract is for?

HEGSETH: You will have that number, Senator. It just can’t be talked about in the public.

REED: No, we want it now! It’s been signed. The contract has been signed, correct? The contract has been signed?

HEGSETH: The memorandum of understanding is not completed–

REED: No, I’m talking about the contract with the American contractor. Has it been signed?

HEGSETH: It’s nothing — nothing on that front, that I’m aware of, is being executed.

REED: Well, that’s contrary to what we’ve all heard.

Watch above via C-SPAN