"President Trump has reached an informal deal with Boeing on a fixed-price contract for the new Air Force One Program," Hogan Gidley, deputy press secretary for the White House revealed Tuesday. "Thanks to the president's negotiations, the contract will save the taxpayers more than $1.4 billion."
— The Boeing Company (@Boeing) February 27, 2018
According to Fox News, "the deal is worth $3.9 billion" and "officials say it represents $1.4 billion in savings from estimates of over $5 billion for two airplanes and related costs."
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016
If Trump appears to have saved the US taxpayers more than $1 billion, it is only because the president's pet news agency, Fox News, is moving the goalposts. The Pentagon has said for years the future Air Force One will cost around $4 billion. Trump even tweeted that Air Force One would run "more than $4 billion" in the infamous "cancel order!" tweet.
But now that Trump is in office, the tab for the "Presidential Aircraft Recapitalization" program runs about $3.9 billion just for the next five years of aircraft and presidential modifications. And according to Fox News, Trump has saved $1.4 billion because of unattributed "estimates" that the program would run more than $5 billion.
Under former President Barack Obama, however, Pentagon budget documents showed the Presidential Aircraft Recapitalization program was going to cost $2.87 billion between fiscal years 2015 and 2021. Program cost estimates are closer to $3.73 billion over 12 years, Politifact noted in December 2016.
