Air Force One greeted by fighter escorts during Trump’s Mideast visit

DOHA, Qatar — 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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.

卡塔尔多哈——美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的卡塔尔之行开局顺利。

就像前一天的沙特阿拉伯一样，卡塔尔也没等特朗普降落，就派出战斗机护航，想给他留下深刻印象。

周二，特朗普飞抵利雅得；周三，他飞抵多哈，开启中东之行。在访问期间，两国都派出F-15战斗机为他举行了仪式性的护航，这种景象极为罕见。

白宫官员玛戈·马丁将这些护送人员的视频发布到了网上。

“沙特空军的F-15战机正在为美国空军一号提供荣誉护航！”她周二写道。沙特皇家空军拥有仅次于美国空军的全球规模最大的美制F-15战机机队。

周三，马丁发帖说：“飞往卡塔尔的景色真美！！！”她甚至拍到了一位坐在 F-15 战斗机后座的卡塔尔飞行员，这位飞行员也回拍了空军一号的照片。

卡塔尔用来给特朗普留下深刻印象的飞机不只有战斗机，它还提出赠送一架豪华的波音747-8飞机给特朗普，供美国在波音公司建造新版本飞机期间用作空军一号。

特朗普辩称，此举对美国财政来说是一项明智的举措。但他的批评者质疑，这相当于一位总统接受外国政府赠送的一份价值连城的礼物，他们称之为“赤裸裸的腐败”和“严重的国家安全威胁”。

这位共和党总统正在对中东三国进行访问，并将于周四访问阿拉伯联合酋长国。