President Donald Trump said he offered to give Gold Star family members a ride on his newly outfitted Air Force One Wednesday following a dignified transfer ceremony to honor fallen service members.
He revealed the gesture at a campaign rally in Georgia, where he appeared with Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson and Rep. Mike Collins, who is running for Senate. The family of Lt. Tyler Feehan, 25, appears to have taken him up on the offer.
“I said, ‘So if you want, I’ll give you a ride on Air Force One. And they said, ‘Wow,’” Trump recalled during his remarks, adding of the plane: “It’s quite nice, I must say.”
Trump also thanked Feehan’s family by name, saying that he was impressed by the young soldier’s sterling record. Feehan died in an Iranian attack on his base in Jordan last weekend.
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“To Sherry and Stephen and David, we will carry Tyler’s memory in our hearts forever, and I just want to thank you. It’s an honor to have you here today,” the president said, gesturing to the family.
Also at the rally, Trump said attending the dignified transfer is the “toughest thing” he has done as president.
Dignified Transfers take place at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where U.S. service member’s remains are transferred from an arriving aircraft to a transport vehicle, ensuring fallen troops are honored and that their bodies are handled with dignity.
On Wednesday, the remains of four soldiers killed in the Iran war were brought back to American soil and honored. Those soldiers were Feehan; Pvt. Isabella Gonzalez, 19; Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30; and Sgt. Angel Rampersad, 28.
Following the ceremony, Trump said he spoke with Feehan’s family and discovered that they were from Georgia — which prompted him to offer them a ride on his new jet and an opportunity to see his rally.
The new Air Force One that Trump has been using for domestic flights — including Wednesday’s trip — was gifted to him from Qatar, and is set to be donated to Trump’s presidential library after he leaves office. Renovations to the luxury jet, including many security upgrades, cost approximately $400 million in taxpayer funds.
The jet is intended as a “bridge” between the aging Boeing jets used by previous presidents and two new aircrafts currently under construction. Those jets are years behind schedule and are due to be delivered in 2028 at the earliest.
Trump took the upgraded Air Force One on its maiden voyage earlier this month on a trip to Turkey to attend a NATO summit, but did not ride the plane back to the U.S. due to widely reported security concerns.
News stories outlining the aircraft’s security vulnerabilities led the Justice Department to serve a series of highly unusual subpoenas toNew York Times reporters and their relatives in an attempt to unmask the confidential sources who spoke with the newspaper.
One reporter’s mother was even targeted by the administration, according to the Times.
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