Qatari jet-turned-Air Force One expected to be delivered this summer, Air Force says

Haley Britzky

In this February 15, 2025 a

The luxury Qatari jet being transformed into a new Air Force One will be delivered this summer, the Air Force said in a statement, roughly a year after its extensive modification began.

“The Air Force remains committed to expediting delivery of the VC-25 bridge aircraft in support of the Presidential airlift mission, with an anticipated delivery no later than summer 2026,” an Air Force spokesperson told CNN on Thursday.

It’s unclear if the plane will be immediately operational once it is delivered, or if more testing would need to be conducted before it is fit to fly for the president. The Wall Street Journal first reported the delivery date of this summer.

The Air Force has not previously provided a firm timeline for the project, though President Donald Trump said last year the plane could be ready to use by February 2026— an ambitious timeline given the substantial work needed to be done on the aircraft to make it a suitable to operate as Air Force One.

The US began converting the jet last year, though details related to the modification are largely classified.

The Boeing 747 aircraft — a “gift” donated by Qatar, Trump said last year — would need to undergo considerable changes in order to address intelligence and security risks. CNN previously reported it would need to be stripped down to its frame by US agencies, and rebuilt with necessary communications and security equipment.

“You would want to check the airplane out completely – strip it down, check for bugs, things like that, harden it to make sure nobody could hijack the electronics on the airplane … The ability for the president to command and control his military in the worst days, that takes a lot,” a retired senior military official familiar with Air Force One previously told CNN.

Other features like the ability to refuel mid-air, for example, are not standard for conventional 747 aircraft, but would be a necessary capability if the president wanted to remain airborne in the instance of a major emergency.

The Air Force spokesperson on Thursday said the service was working with “other government entities to ensure proper security measures and function-mission requirements are considered” for the aircraft.

An agreement signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his Qatari counterpart last year said the donation of the plane was “unconditional” and confirmed the US would not pay anything to Qatar. Still, the US was expected to spend hundreds of millions of dollars converting the aircraft.

The project was expected to cost “probably less than $400 million,” Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told lawmakers last year.

Boeing has also been working to renovate two of its 747 jets to serve as the next generation Air Force One, but the process has dragged on years longer than originally planned, at a huge cost to the company.

The company and Air Force signed a deal in 2018 to provide the new jets for a total of $3.9 billion, with the expectation they would be done by 2024. Work began on the jets with the stripping out of their commercial interiors in 2019.

But delays and cost-overruns have cost Boeing more than $2.3 billion, according to company financial reports. And a firm date of when they will be done is not yet know, but it won’t be before next year at the earliest. Boeing referred a question Wednesday on the timing for the new jets to the Air Force.

Earlier this week an electrical issue forced Trump’s Europe-bound plane to turn back to Joint Base Andrews.

To resume his trip to Switzerland, the president switched Tuesday to a Boeing C-32A, which is often used by the first lady or Cabinet members.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/22/politics/qatari-jet-turned-air-force-one-expected-to-be-delivered-this-summer-air-force-says

Purdue blocks admission of many Chinese grad students in unwritten policy

Faculty members say university is overreacting to pressure from the Trump administration and Congress

Purdue University campus

Purdue University’s new restrictions on admitting foreign students have raised concerns about academic freedom.Joe Hendrickson/Alamy

In an unprecedented step for a major research university, Purdue University has begun to curb the flow of Chinese graduate students to its Indiana campuses. The policy follows pressure from Congress and President Donald Trump for U.S. institutions to monitor Chinese scholars more closely but goes far beyond those demands.

The directive, which was first reported in early December 2025 by the Lafayette Journal & Courier and the Purdue student newspaper, has never been put in writing. But several faculty members confirmed to Science that it is in effect. Last spring it apparently led Purdue to rescind departmental letters of acceptance to more than 100 graduate students, most from China. More recently it is impacting students that faculty members would like to employ as research assistants in their lab but whom the university has not admitted into a doctoral program.

“The policy doesn’t make any sense,” says one faculty member, who like others requested anonymity because faculty have been ordered not to talk to the media. If it continues, “we’ll experience a huge brain drain of talented students simply because the university is willing to capitulate to avoid being targeted by this administration.”

Last month, the Federation of Asian Professor Associations expressed its “grave concern” about the new admissions policy and asked Purdue to explain its rationale and impact on students. “Purdue University is risking its global reputation by endorsing a practice that shifts away from” long-standing academic norms, the group wrote to Purdue’s president, Mung Chiang, who has not responded. Purdue declined to answer Science’s questions about the policy, but said in a statement that Purdue “does not discriminate in admissions on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin or ancestry, or any other protected status.”

The new policy applies to students from as many as 30 countries, according to faculty members, including seven the U.S. government has designated as “countries of concern.” The latter group includes China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.

Faculty members say the new procedures have been presented verbally at meetings but remain vague. “There hasn’t been an official stop to admitting [Chinese students],” one says. “But when we’ve asked to get it in writing, [administrators] say they haven’t done it because then somebody could sue us.”

University officials have described the unwritten policy as a prudent response to the current uncertainty facing Chinese and other foreign students when they apply for visas to study in the United States. “They are telling us that these foreign students may not show up if we offer them a position,” the faculty member says. “And that could jeopardize our research.”

But many faculty and affected students see the change as an overreaction to the current political climate. In March 2025, a select committee in the U.S. House of Representatives investigating the Chinese Communist Party asked Purdue and five other major U.S. research institutions to document the activities of Chinese students and scholars on campus, their interactions with Chinese institutions, and steps the universities are taking to prevent the theft of intellectual property. Purdue responded within days, reporting that the school’s overall doctoral population includes 1144 Chinese nationals, or one-fifth of the total.

Representative John Moolenaar (R–MI), who chairs the House committee, singled out the university for praise in a September 2025 report. “Purdue has proactively reviewed its policies regarding foreign students and research collaboration and has already implemented new safeguards,” Moolenaar wrote. “This forward-leaning approach should serve as an example to other institutions of higher education.”

Purdue’s graduate student association believes the policy was first applied in May to more than 100 students who were told that their acceptance letters had been rescinded. Kieran Hilmer, a math graduate student and association leader, says all received the same form email. “The Office of Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars [OGSPS] must approve all graduate admissions and funding offers at Purdue,” the letters read. “Unfortunately, your application was not approved for admission by OGSPS.”

https://www.science.org/content/article/purdue-blocks-admission-many-chinese-grad-students-unwritten-policy

Convicted Minnesota fraudster alleges Walz, Ellison were aware of widespread fraud

Aimee Bock says Tim Walz and Keith Ellison 'need to be held accountable'

January 22, 2026 2:18pm EST

A Minnesota woman convicted in one of the state’s largest fraud schemes alleged in a jailhouse interview that Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were aware of widespread fraud well before federal prosecutors stepped in.

Aimee Bock, the former head of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, spoke to Fox News from Sherburne County Jail in Minnesota, claiming state officials continued approving and paying claims even after concerns were raised about potential fraud.

Bock alleged the state approved program sponsors and was responsible for monitoring claims, but officials repeatedly failed to investigate or stop suspicious companies after she flagged them.

"I honestly believe Keith Ellison and Gov. Walz need to be held accountable. There needs to be an investigation done. If they weren't aware, that's concerning," she told Fox News.

"I have to believe that the governor's office and Keith Ellison's office were aware of this. They've said they were involved in helping the FBI. They've said they were made aware, but apparently I'm scary, so they couldn't do anything," Bock added.

In response, a spokesperson for Ellison's office said Bock lacked credibility, pointing out her federal prison sentence. "She is a liar, fraudster, and manipulator of the highest order who has never acknowledged or accepted her guilt. Now, she’s on a media tour to deflect her guilt onto others instead of finally taking responsibility for the fraud scheme she ran," the spokesperson said.

"Federal and state investigators meticulously examined the crimes Bock and her accomplices committed," the Ellison spokesperson continued. "Bock alone is responsible for her own actions, which was proven in court beyond a shadow of a doubt, and her claim about Attorney General Ellison is a lie without a shred of evidence behind it."

Federal prosecutors have said the scheme involved more than $250 million in stolen taxpayer funds intended to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic, with sham restaurants set up to falsely claim reimbursements.….

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/convicted-minnesota-fraudster-alleges-walz-ellison-were-aware-widespread-fraud