In March 2000, as Bill Clinton’s presidency neared its end, the Democratic incumbent flew to Pakistan, and for security reasons, he relied on a decoy jet. White House officials took care to coordinate with the White House Correspondents’ Association president, letting her know where the president would be and the safety measures that were in place for journalists on the trip.
More than a quarter-century later, there’s a related story about Donald Trump, although the relevant details are vastly more controversial.
The way in which the incumbent president departed the NATO summit in Turkey last month was already a mess, because of the fiasco surrounding the Qatar-gifted Air Force One. But in recent days, the mess grew far worse because Trump didn’t fly on the older Air Force One, as we’d been led to believe.
Instead, as MS NOW reported, Trump boarded the presidential jet, then secretly exited the plane and boarded a catering truck, which took him to a different plane. All of this was apparently made necessary due in response to an Iranian security threat.
If we were to stop here, the developments would reflect an extraordinary act of subterfuge. But a closer look reveals a different kind of story.
While it stands to reason that presidential security requires a great deal of secrecy, especially during a war and when the president is traveling abroad, Trump and his team failed to notify Congress of the Iranian security threat, then continued to lie about what transpired long after the threat had passed.
Complicating matters further is the unavoidable fact that this plan, for all intents and purposes, used White House Cabinet secretaries and press corps as decoys on a plane that Secret Service officials weren’t comfortable having Trump travel on.
In other words, the president took care to save himself, while moving forward with a plan that appears to have put others, including members of his own team, at risk.
After the details emerged, reporters asked Trump on Tuesday night about the switch. “Well, it’s only up to Secret Service,” he replied. “I just follow what they like to do. So I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight. … I do what they say.”
He added, however, there was “equal safety” on the flights, which seemed implausible on its face: There wouldn’t have been a need for the change in the first place if both plans were equally safe.
As Tuesday night’s Q&A continued, a reporter asked, “Why was it too dangerous for you to fly on Air Force One but not for the press?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “I think, actually, the plane that I flew on was at greater risk.”
That’s obviously difficult to take seriously, since no one knew he was on the other plane.
A variety of lawmakers on Capitol Hill have requested an intelligence briefing about what transpired, suggesting this story is far from over. Watch this space.
The post Trump offers odd explanation for why he secretly swapped planes at NATO summit appeared first on MS NOW.
