US President Donald Trump confirmed he secretly switched planes when leaving the NATO summit in Turkey last month.
“It’s only up to the . I just follow what they’d like to do, so I go by Secret Service and the military,” Trump told reporters late Tuesday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
“They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I do it, I do what they say,” Trump was quoted by TIME as saying.
The Washington Post first reported that when Trump left , Turkey, on July 8 and headed to England, he boarded Air Force One in front of the media.
He was later transferred to a military aircraft via a catering truck in an effort to conceal his exact whereabouts. Several other outlets also carried the story, citing unnamed US officials as sources.
Why was Trump made to switch planes in Turkey
A threat that Air Force One could be targeted by a shoulder-fired missile prompted the Secret Service to secretly move President Trump onto a smaller government jet during a trip to Turkey last month, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
The threat emerged on the final day of Trump’s visit to for the NATO summit amid heightened tensions with Iran, the source said.
The Secret Service deemed the threat to be credible and imminent, prompting an extraordinary operation to conceal the US president’s movements.
A second source told Reuters that there was not a clear plan by those hostile to Trump for executing the threat, but only an intent, which is why the planes were allowed to fly.
‘Iran knew Trump’s exact Ankara location at NATO Summit’
Meanwhile, a New York Times report claimed that US intelligence agencies intercepted multiple inputs indicating that Iran possessed precise information regarding Trump’s whereabouts in during the NATO summit last month, which prompted his secretive departure.
Two US officials familiar with the intelligence told NYT that security authorities detected a specific surface-to-air missile threat directed against whichever aircraft was carrying Trump.
Moreover, an individual near the NATO summit was reportedly spotted with a shoulder-fired missile, while Iranian operatives were said to be aware of the exact floor of the hotel where Trump was staying, the report added.
The threat assessment was deemed severe enough to prompt a complex security deception.
Trump’s way out of Turkey
Trump publicly boarded the older Air Force One before being secretly transported out of the airport inside a catering container and transferred to a military plane that flew him out of Turkey.
Trump and a small group of aides reportedly used a catering truck to surreptitiously switch from the big blue-and-white presidential aircraft to a smaller, nondescript C-32A jet for the flight out of Turkey on July 8.
The Air Force One departed separately, carrying senior administration officials, White House staff and the traveling press corps, according to Reuters’ first source.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he made the switch at the direction of the Secret Service, which is charged with presidential security. He flew from Ankara to a refueling stop in Britain without incident.
“I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” Trump was quoted as saying, without providing evidence. “I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for,” he added.
When asked about the nature of the “threat,” Trump acknowledged there had been one but said he “didn’t really ask too much about it,” adding that he receives “a lot of threats,” the TIME reported.
Secret travel
US presidents, including Trump, have occasionally traveled under secrecy when visiting war zones or high-risk regions in order to maintain security. But those trips typically involved advance notice for journalists traveling with the president.
Some members of the press got a heads-up ahead of a Thanksgiving 2003 trip by President George W. Bush to Baghdad.
Other members of the press corps covering Bush’s Thanksgiving holiday in Crawford, Texas, were misled, however. Told that Bush was spending the feast day with family, they were shocked when the president abruptly surfaced in Iraq.
The first source on Wednesday said the Secret Service did not have the luxury of time in Turkey.
“They were scrambling to head off what they thought was a credible, imminent threat,” the source said.
The Washington Post first reported details of the operation this week, more than a month after it was carried out.
The New York Times reported that US officials were alarmed to discover that Iranians knew where Trump was staying in Ankara, including the exact floor of his hotel.
On board the Air Force One jet now seen as a decoy were U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who the first source said was briefed on the maneuver; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; White House communications director Steven Cheung; and a number of other aides plus the typical 13-person press pool that included a Reuters correspondent and photographer.
White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, executive assistant Natalie Harp and director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta made the move in the catering truck with Trump, the source said.
Some media commentators and lawmakers have questioned whether the operation left Trump’s aides and journalists traveling with him at risk aboard the plane presumed to be carrying the president.
The first source said it was determined that it was in Trump’s best interests to keep the ruse secret as hostilities escalated with Iran, which borders Turkey.
Turkish officials did not immediately comment on the threat.
