Washington, United States
A secret operation that reportedly smuggled Donald Trump off Air Force One in a catering truck before the plane departed carrying journalists and top aides at apparent risk of an Iranian strike has raised questions over U.S. security practices.
The Washington Post reported Monday that Trump covertly exited the presidential plane while it was on the ground in Turkey on July 8 as his security team deployed a scheme to evade an assassination threat.
Some traveling media expressed anger at having unwittingly served as decoys, while others complained about deception and lack of communication from the White House.
Trump boarded the presidential jet in full view of video cameras and photographers, with AFP pictures showing two supply containers on hydraulic lifts at the front and rear of the aircraft.
But he then reportedly quickly left the plane, stepping inside one of the cargo containers, to board a smaller U.S. Air Force aircraft positioned nearby.
About a dozen journalists traveling in a separate section of Air Force One with no access to the president were unaware of the switch and flew out of Turkey on the plane despite the apparent threat from Iran, which is at war with the United States.
– Shoulder-to-air missile threat? –
“When you sign up to work at the White House, even as a civilian, part of your job is to defend the president,” one unnamed White House reporter told the Post.
“That’s not my job. I cover the president. Reporters take risks as part of the job, but not on behalf of the president.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Israel had briefed the U.S. about a possible shoulder-to-air missile strike on Air Force One, adding that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was among senior officials and staff who remained on the plane.
Dispatches sent by pool media on board noted a Secret Service order that window shades be lowered during takeoff — an unusual instruction outside of combat zones.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday called for Congress to be briefed “on the Iranian threats against the president, the extraordinary measures taken to get him out of Turkey.”
Trump’s trip to the NATO summit had already raised eyebrows after he arrived on a luxury Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar and retrofitted to carry the U.S. president.
But it was reportedly not fitted with anti-missile security systems and the old Air Force One was called into action.
Trump claimed at the time that the new plane was being sent ahead for U.S. troops in Britain to tour, as a treat.
At a stopover in Britain, he returned to the Qatar-gifted plane for the flight to Washington.
Asked at the time why journalists had been asked to lower window blinds he said “because you’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with.”
“If I go, you go. Right?” Trump told reporters.
The White House has yet to respond directly to the alleged plane swap.
“There are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats,” Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
In 2000, Bill Clinton switched presidential planes at the last minute while traveling from India to Pakistan, using a decoy aircraft carrying Secret Service agents.
Joe Biden’s 2023 visit to Ukraine was also shrouded in strict secrecy during a long journey by plane and train, though he was accompanied by a reporter and photographer.
