Despite recent revelations that the Pentagon may have been hiding $125 billion in wasteful spending, the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) all knocked President-Elect Donald Trump Tuesday for tweeting his disapproval of the $4 billion price tag of two new presidential aircraft. “President-Elect Donald Trump's sparking a new controversy over Air Force One after once again, taking to social media to criticize an American business,” whined fill-in Anchor Tamron Hall on NBC Nightly News. But each one of them reported a different price tag for the project.
Trump’s liberal media triggering tweet said, “Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control. More than $4 billion. Cancel order!" He explained to the press in the lobby of Trump Tower, “Well, the plane is totally out of control. I think it's ridiculous. I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number.” Both NBC and ABC spun the facts heavily to try and discredit Trump’s claim.
NBC’s Hallie Jackson stuck up Boeing reporting that, “The aviation company saying in a statement, it looks forward to delivering ‘The best planes for the president at the best value for the American taxpayer.’” She continued, “Some experts warn, it's too early to say the Boeing contract is too expensive.” She never reported an actual number for the cost of the aircraft.
“But there is no $4 billion deal,” claimed ABC’s Tom Llamas on World News Tonight, “The Pentagon projects the cost could exceed $3 billion.” Llamas then chided that, “And the jets would likely be for Trump's successor, not Trump himself,” as if wasteful spending only effects the here and now.
On CBS Evening News, Nancy Cordes was the only network reporter to corroborate Trump’s claim about the cost, “The budget for the new Air Force One currently sits at about $3 billion and could climb, as Mr. Trump said today, to $4 billion.” But she oddly mocked him for preferring his plane because, “His 757 can't refuel midair or deflect missiles.” NBC’s Jackson did this as well, noting that presidential planes needed to be able to survive a nuclear blast.
Llamas on the other hand went after Trump for publicly discussing deals that would benefit Americans workers. He seemed to scold Trump for claiming that Carrier deal was great for worker because, according to him, 600 jobs were still going to Mexico while 1,100 stayed. So is Llamas arguing that no Carrier jobs are better than a majority of them?
He also attacked Trump for making a deal with a Japanese business man who, according to Trump, would “to invest $50 billion in the United States and 50,000 jobs.” Llamas claimed Trump was “claiming credit for another deal,” even though they both men met and he never explained how Trump was stealing credit.
Ironically, in 2009 President Barack Obama expressed concern about budget overruns for development of a new fleet of Marine One presidential helicopters. The program was cancelled in May of the same year when the projected cost of the project was roughly $13 billion dollars.