After boarding Air Force One last month in Turkey, President Donald Trump exited that airplane and embarked on another one in an extraordinary act of subterfuge aimed at avoiding a threat from Iran, according to a U.S. official.
To pull off the maneuver, Trump secretly boarded a catering truck after entering Air Force One in view of press cameras. The catering truck was positioned so that the president could not be seen exiting the presidential plane, which contained some White House staff and media traveling with Trump to a NATO summit.
The Washington Post first reported the plane swap, which a U.S. official confirmed to MS NOW. The official was granted anonymity to share details of the clandestine mission.
Only a small circle of people was aware that Trump boarded one plane and then secretly transferred to another, according to a U.S. official.
Only a small circle of people was aware that Trump boarded one plane and then secretly transferred to another, according to the official. Journalists traveling as part of the press pool on the initial plane were also not told, and the White House did not disclose the president was leaving Turkey on a different plane.
In addition to journalists on board the decoy aircraft, there were also several White House staffers. According to the official, “most staffers on the plane did not know” that the president was not on board.
The president arrived for the NATO summit on the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One, but for the first leg of his return trip home, Trump flew on the older version of Air Force One.
After the plane switch, MS NOW reported that Trump swapped out his new Qatari-gifted Air Force One for his flight from the NATO summit to the United Kingdom over concerns that the gifted aircraft lacks necessary secure communications systems and military defenses that the original 1990s-era Air Force One has.
Trump initially denied that the plane switch was related to security concerns when asked during his closing press conference in Ankara. He said the reason was to allow the new plane to be seen by U.S. troops at a U.K. military base.
The president also acknowledged that he was a primary target for Iran —and later reporting from The New York Times confirmed that there was a credible threat from Iran to Trump involving an airplane. The United States and Iran are engaged in a war that is coming up on the six-month mark.
White House communications director Steven Cheung on Tuesday defended the security features of the Qatari-gifted plane.
“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” Cheung said in a statement to MS NOW when asked about the reported plane swap. “As the president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.”
Once on board the original Air Force One in Ankara, journalists were advised to keep their window shades in the press cabin closed, according to notes sent on behalf of the traveling press pool. In a subsequent White House pool note, one journalist reported that a photographer opened their shade but was quickly instructed to close it again, at the request of Secret Service.
During the return trip from the U.K. to the U.S. on the new Air Force One, the president was asked about those security precautions, according to the traveling press. He responded, “Well, yeah, because you’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags we have to deal with.”
Referring to threats from Iran, Trump added, “I’m number one on their list, before you. But if I go, you go. Right? Perhaps someday you want to change professions.”
Trump debuted the nearly $400 million jet last month ahead of the Fourth of July weekend for a trip to North Dakota. He called it “the world’s most luxurious plane,” and he has repeatedly bashed the older Air Force One.
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