Former President Donald Trump has a valuable asset – about $100 million worth – sitting at an airport more than an hour’s drive north of New York City.
Trump’s private plane, a Boeing 757-200 used extensively during the 2016 election campaign, is in need of repairs that could cost close to $1 million and may not happen any time soon because of Trump’s finances.
A CNN story published Friday presented the plane’s status as a metaphor.
“Trump’s personal Boeing 757 was always the crown jewel of his wealth — the ultimate sign that he had made it. He’s used it as a backdrop for sleek photo shoots … Trump loved to show it off — the customized cream-colored leather seats, gilded bathrooms, the seat buckles layered in 24-karat gold.”
In a Daily Mail story from January, Jon Ostrower, editor in chief of The Air Current, reported that maintenance work needed was too pricy.
“The tipster tells me that it wasn’t kept service ready because, well, the president ‘didn’t think he’d need it again for another four years,’” Ostrower tweeted.
Trump owns a nine-seat Cessna Citation X and three Sikorsky S-76 helicopters.
Flight records accessed by CNN show the 757 hasn’t been flown at all since Inauguration Day.
The New York Times reported Trump’s debts and loans liability reached $421 million; his golf courses have suffered at least $315 million in losses over the past two decades.
Trump could use money in his political action committees. “PACs are often used as slush funds,” said Paul S. Ryan, a top lawyer at Common Cause, a good governance non-profit.
“Campaign finance law doesn’t require PAC money to be used for political purposes, leaving open the possibility that Trump could use PAC funds to pay for private plane repairs.”
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