'Putrid': CNN's John Berman stunned as ex-GOP spokesman attacks Trump for lack of taste

Pete Seat, a spokesperson for the George W. Bush administration, gave a stunning assessment of President Donald Trump's plan to accept a $400 million plane from Qatar that he wants to convert into a new Air Force One.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social a day before he was set to head to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates Monday for his first international trip of his second administration.

Seat appeared on CNN News Central Monday morning where anchor John Berman asked for his opinion on the hugely expensive gift from a nation with ties to Iran.

Berman began by asking about a recent comment from Ari Fleischer, who preceded Seat as Bush's White House press secretary.

"Ari Fleischer, I think, preceded you in the Bush administration, said, 'Nothing about getting Air Force One from a foreign government feels right. It may be legal, but I wouldn't do it. Air Force One should be American through and through. It shouldn't pass through foreign hands, and it shouldn't be a gift from a king. Don't do it.'"

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"Ari is a good friend, and he's a smart man," Seat said. "The optics of getting Air Force One from another country are bad. The ethics of potentially transferring the plane to the presidential library, where a private citizen, Donald Trump, could then use it, are bad."

Seat then made eyebrow-raising comments that stunned Berman.

"The aesthetics — that putrid blue and burgundy that he wants to paint the plane — are also bad," Seat exclaimed.

He continued, "But worse is the security concerns and the fact that they would pretty much have to gut the plane down to its bare bones to ensure that it was not tampered with in any way. The president of the United States safety is paramount in this situation. It should be built in America, as Ari said, by Americans with security clearance. That's the way to do this."

"I was not expecting the color critique there," Berman quipped.

Watch the clip below via CNN.