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7 months ago
27
President Joe Biden played along with a joke about Air Force One with Steven Colbert – then made plain the historic aircraft won't be getting Donald Trump's preferred paint job.
The Late Show host asked about the famous plane near the end of his conversation with Presidents Biden, Obama, and Clinton at a fundraiser that hauled in $25 million at Radio City Music Hall.
'You're all busy men, you gotta go run the world. Here's an important question. All three of you have been on Air Force One. You still have the keys, Mr. Biden. That's made my Boeing right? Do those doors stay on?' Colbert asked.
'Before you get on, do you give Pete Buttigieg a socket wrench to tighten the bolts?' he joked, in a reference to manufacturer Boeing's woes, which have included a door plug falling out from an Alaska Airlines aircraft in midlight.
'I don't sit by the door. I'm only kidding. I shouldn't even joke about it,' Biden responded.
President Joe Biden said said Air Force One will not be getting a new paint job
'One thing I can tell you about Air Force One: We're not changing the color,' he added. ' Trump wanted to change the color.'
That prompted Obama, added Biden to his ticket in 2008 and who has been advising him on getting reelected, to second his opinion. 'Yeah, we're not doing that,' said Obama.
Trump famously oversaw an Air Force One redesign that would have included a new red, white and blue paint design. He even kept a model of it in the Oval Office.
He joked that he doesn't sit next to the door on Air Force One. This photo released by the National Transportation Safety Board shows a gaping hole where the paneled-over door had been at the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, Jan. 7, 2024
Biden spoke about the presidential aircraft at a fundraiser with Barack Obama and Bill Clinton
The Biden Administration opted to keep the plane's classic design, overruling a Trump Administration redesign that a study said would contribute to heat and costs
Still pulling strings? Barack Obama chimed in on the design: 'Yeah, we're not doing that'
The Biden administration reversed the new paint colors in 2022 after a study showed the darker colors would have brought higher temperatures and required additional cooling components, which would in turn run up costs.
Under current plans, the new modified Boeing 747-8s that will serve as the next generation presidential aircraft will keep the same seafoam blue color that dates to the John F. Kennedy era.
English (US)