Under Threat From Iran, President Trump Used Military Plane in Travel Feint
A catering truck secretly delivered him to another aircraft after Turkey's NATO summit.
President Trump secretly exited the airplane he boarded following last month’s NATO summit in Turkey and was spirited away in a catering truck to leave the country on a smaller craft after intelligence revealed an Iranian plot to assassinate him, the press revealed Monday evening.
Mr. Trump, who has said he’s “number one on the kill list for Iran,” was seen July 8 boarding the older Air Force One in Ankara for a flight to Royal Air Force Mildenhall in England; he switched to the newer, Qatari-donated aircraft for the final leg home.
But that is not what happened, The Washington Post reported.
While the press and onlookers saw Mr. Trump enter the older Boeing 747 jet, they did not see him walk across the aircraft and into a catering truck on the other side. The truck drove to an Air Force C-32A aircraft, which Mr. Trump and several White House officials boarded outside media view. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was observed boarding the C-32A using external stairs.
The smaller aircraft secretly carried the president to England. There, Mr. Trump transferred back to the legacy Air Force One before publicly descending its stairs. After greeting U.S. servicemembers, he boarded the newer, Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8 for the flight to Washington.
The covert maneuver resulted from intelligence Israel reportedly provided to the United States about Iranian plans to attack the newer plane.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon provided answers to the paper’s specific questions about the security operation. The White House said, “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.”
The Pentagon referred questions to the White House. The Secret Service did not respond at all to the newspaper.
The Washington Star sent comment requests to all three but did not hear back from the Secret Service or the White House. A Pentagon public-affairs duty officer referred the Star to the White House.
But while the Trump administration wasn’t saying much to the media, Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, said he supported the subterfuge.
“If the WP story about Trump switching planes to return home from Turkey is true, then kudos to the Secret Service, the Air Force and the WH,” Mr. Fleischer wrote on X. “If there’s a credible threat against any POTUS, their job is to protect him. I’m sorry if the press felt deceived. In an extraordinary situation like that, what was the WH supposed to do? Announce the switch?”
Presidential security is a continuing issue, perhaps more so for Mr. Trump than most recent occupants of the Oval Office. Iran remains at war with the United States following the February 28 attacks on Tehran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials. During the funeral procession for Khamenei in July, mourners carried banners promising death to the president and chanted slogans calling for Mr. Trump’s death.
A gunman opened fire April 25 after storming security outside the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton and charging toward the ballroom. The event ended abruptly, only to reconvene four months later.
Five people were arrested in an alleged plot to attack the June 14 UFC event at the White House using small drones carrying explosives. And on August 2, Jeanine John Taele, 38, was arrested after authorities said he was walking through Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles photographing and videotaping security preparations. Mr. Trump visited the club two days later for a Republican National Committee fundraiser.
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