DOHA: President Donald Trump’s trip to Qatar is off to a flying start. Like Saudi Arabia a day earlier, Qatar didn’t bother waiting for Trump to land before setting out to impress him with a fighter jet escort. As Trump flew in to Riyadh on Tuesday and then in to Doha on Wednesday as part of his Middle East trip, he received ceremonial escorts from each country’s F-15 fighter jets, exceptionally rare sights. A White House official, Margo Martin, posted videos of the escorts online. “Saudi F-15’s providing honorary escort for Air Force One!” she wrote on Tuesday. The Royal Saudi Air Force has the world’s largest fleet of American-made F-15s after the US Air Force. Then on Wednesday, Martin posted: “what a view flying into Qatar!!!” She even captured one of the Qatari aviators, sitting in the F-15’s backseat, returning the favor by taking a picture of Air Force One. The fighter jets aren’t the only planes Qatar has used to impress Trump, offering to gift him a luxury Boeing 747-8 that the US could use as Air Force One while new versions of the plane are under construction by Boeing. Trump has defended the idea as a fiscally smart move for the United States. But his critics have questioned what would amount to a president accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign government, calling it “naked corruption” and “a grave national security threat.” The Republican president is on a three-nation Middle East trip and visits the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
