President Donald Trump confirmed he did not travel on Air Force One with White House staff and reporters after a NATO summit in Turkey, but was instead secreted onto a separate plane at the behest of the Secret Service and the military due to a security threat.
“It’s only up to Secret Service,” Trump said. “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, different plane. Equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I do it. ”
The Washington Post reported Monday that Trump was not aboard the presidential 747 that serves as Air Force One when it departed the summit on July 8, despite boarding the plane with cameras rolling. After boarding, the president was transferred via a catering truck to a waiting military aircraft.
The aircraft carried Trump to RAF Mildenhall military base in England, while reporters and White House staff flew there on the legacy Air Force One. The president reboarded Air Force One at Mildenhall, leaving reporters and some staff believing he had been aboard the entire trip.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller remained aboard the legacy Air Force One for the flight to Britain.
Prior to leaving, Trump announced the new Qatari-donated jet replacing the old Air Force One aircraft would fly to Mildenhall early so the troops could see the new plane. He said he would follow later on the traditional Air Force One “for old times sake.” The New York Times later reported that the change was made due to a potential threat from Iran and the new jet’s lack of defensive capabilities.
The new Air Force One carried the president and reporters to the summit.
The ruse to conceal the president’s whereabouts from some staff, the press pool and the world was a departure from conventional communication about presidential travel, even in times of crisis. It parallels then-President Bill Clinton’s trip to Pakistan in 2000, when he arrived in an unmarked aircraft after the plane he was thought to be in had already landed.
However, some members of the press were informed about Clinton’s charade.
In Ankara, Turkey, in July, after boarding for the first leg of the return Air Force One flight, reporters were told to keep their window blinds closed, citing instructions from the Secret Service. Video of the departure showed a catering truck parked beside the legacy Air Force One when Trump boarded, then pulling away and driving to a waiting aircraft in the distance.
The bait and switch resulted from the latest reported threat from Iran against the president’s life, amid renewed military strikes between the United States and Iran after a ceasefire agreement collapsed.
After leaving Mildenhall, a reporter asked the president why they had to close the window blinds and if there was a credible threat by Iran against Air Force One.
“I have a threat all the time,” Trump said at the time. “I’m number one on their list, before you. But if I go, you go. Right?”
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