{"id":6586,"date":"2026-07-07T20:39:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6586"},"modified":"2026-07-07T20:39:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:39:57","slug":"trump-weighed-in-on-cabinet-squabble-over-ride-for-july-fourth-flyover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6586","title":{"rendered":"Trump weighed in on Cabinet squabble over ride for July Fourth flyover"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
People watch a flyover on July Fourth in Washington to celebrate America\u2019s 250th birthday. (Tyler M. Andrews\/The Washington Post)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

A dispute among Cabinet officials over who could ride in fighter jets flying over Washington on July Fourth escalated to President Donald Trump, who gave the go-ahead to acting attorney general Todd Blanche despite prior objections from Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy.<\/p>

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The backstage air show drama reflected how much the personalities of Trump and his top officials drove the official festivities to mark the nation\u2019s 250th birthday.<\/p>\n

The spat centered on NASA Administrator Jared <\/b>Isaacman\u2019s plans to fly his personal collection of F-5 Tiger II fighter jets as part of Saturday\u2019s nine-hour parade<\/a> of military aircraft. The NASA administrator, who made a fortune in payment processing, co-founded a company that trains U.S. pilots and manages one of the world\u2019s largest private fleets of fighter jets.<\/p>\n

Isaacman planned to bring along passengers including Blanche, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trump 2024 campaign manager Chris LaCivita, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf, according to two people familiar with the plans, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. Scavino posted on social media that he was looking forward to the flyover.<\/p>\n

In late June, Isaacman, through an aide, sought permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly the jets in the aerial review, according to a public notice<\/a> the agency later released. Hugh J. Thomas, a 24-year agency veteran who now directs its Flight Standards Service, determined that the jets were too risky to fly over a densely populated area.<\/p>\n

\u201cA single system failure will render the aircraft uncontrollable,\u201d Thomas wrote in his denial, dated June 30. Isaacman appealed the decision, but the FAA upheld it.<\/p>\n

The White House\u2019s Cabinet Affairs office got involved but was not able to resolve the impasse between Duffy, who stood by his agency\u2019s ruling, and the other senior officials who wanted to ride in the planes, the people familiar with the plans said.<\/p>\n

The FAA classifies most ex-military jets in private hands as \u201cexperimental\u201d aircraft because they do not map cleanly onto civilian certification standards, and the agency does not have the same knowledge about the airworthiness and safety history of former military planes.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the official White House X account posted a video<\/a> previewing the plan for Isaacman to fly in the parade \u2014 seen as a nod in his favor.<\/p>\n

NASA developed a work-around to get past the FAA\u2019s objections. The agency designated Isaacman\u2019s planes as being for \u201cpublic use\u201d \u2014 treating them as its own aircraft. That allowed the agency to fly the aircraft over Washington without the FAA\u2019s approval, an FAA spokesperson said.<\/p>

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The FAA only oversees civilian aircraft, so it did not have any say over NASA\u2019s jets, just as it is not involved with the Navy\u2019s Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds flights.<\/p>\n

By that point, it was too late for most of the planned VIP passengers to join the ride. But Blanche still wanted to participate. <\/b>He discussed his disappointment with Trump directly, who encouraged him to go, a person familiar with the matter said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Isaacman\u2019s official X account posted<\/a> photos showing Blanche in a flight suit in the back of Isaacman\u2019s jet. Blanche responded<\/a> that \u201cit was an honor to fly over the National Mall\u201d and thanked NASA \u201cfor an unforgettable experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for Blanche and Duffy did not respond to requests for comment. The White House was grateful for NASA\u2019s contribution, an official said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe successful air show, record-breaking fireworks display, and President Trump\u2019s incredible speech combined to make our Nation\u2019s 250th birthday celebration one for the ages,\u201d White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said.<\/p>\n

Duffy served as acting NASA administrator before Isaacman\u2019s confirmation last year and advocated for bringing the space agency under the Transportation Department\u2019s purview.<\/p>\n

The F-5s were all 1970s-era military jets made by Northrop Grumman. Three were former Jordanian Air Force planes.<\/p>\n

The FAA receives thousands of requests for rule waivers each year, mostly for flight certification deadlines and agricultural drone operations. The vast majority are approved. So far this year, the FAA has denied just 12 exemption requests, including for the F-5s flyover.<\/p>

Read more The Maine race Democrats can\u2019t afford to lose is falling apart<\/a><\/p>\n

Todd Frankel contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The president encouraged acting attorney general Todd Blanche to fly on one of NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman\u2019s jets despite the FAA\u2019s prior objection to the planes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump weighed in on Cabinet squabble over ride for July Fourth flyover - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6586\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump weighed in on Cabinet squabble over ride for July Fourth flyover - 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