BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Friday said he was considering imposing a lifetime ban on U.S. military procurement officials from later working for defense contractors.
Three days after publicly rebuking Boeing (NYSE:BA) Co over costs for the next generation of Air Force One presidential aircraft, Trump floated the idea of such a ban on stage at a rally for his Republican supporters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"I think anybody that gives out these big contracts should never ever, during their lifetime, be allowed to work for a defense company, for a company that makes that product," Trump said. "I don't know, it makes sense to me."
He added that he "got the idea yesterday" as he thought about "massive" cost overruns for military equipment but needed to "check this out" first before making any decisions.
Trump also singled out Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth fighter jet program for criticism at the Louisiana rally, saying it was "totally, totally, like, uncontrollably over budget."