The Washington Post reported that U.S. President Donald Trump secretly left Turkey last month aboard a military aircraft, despite the White House saying he would depart on Air Force One. The unusual move reportedly came in response to an Iranian threat to assassinate him.
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Trump had flown to Ankara aboard the recently refurbished presidential aircraft, which was gifted to the United States by Qatar, to attend the NATO summit.
However, he unexpectedly boarded the older Air Force One aircraft when leaving the country, raising questions about the security of the new plane.
The NATO summit marked the new aircraft’s first international flight and came as fighting with Iran intensified, with Iran located along Turkey’s border.
Citing a U.S. official familiar with the operation and another person familiar with the president’s travel arrangements, the newspaper reported that after Trump boarded the older Air Force One in front of cameras in Ankara, he was secretly transported in an airport catering truck to a smaller U.S. Air Force C-32A aircraft.
At the time, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would use the older, light-blue presidential aircraft “for old times’ sake” to travel from Ankara to Royal Air Force Mildenhall in Britain, while the new aircraft stopped at the same base so U.S. military personnel could inspect it.
The newspaper reported that the deception was carried out in response to a credible threat targeting Trump.
A similar operation took place in 2000, when then-President Bill Clinton traveled to Pakistan aboard an unmarked aircraft commonly used by business executives, while his official presidential aircraft was sent as a decoy.
In the latest incident, journalists who believed they were traveling with Trump aboard the older Air Force One were instructed to keep the curtains over the press cabin windows closed.
The newspaper said some White House staff members also believed the president was on board.
When reporters later asked Trump why they had been required to keep the curtains closed during the flight, he said they were “probably on a dangerous flight.”
“But if you go, you go too. Right?” he added.
According to the newspaper, the C-32A carrying Trump flew to Britain and arrived at around 10:20 p.m., followed minutes later by Air Force One and the media. It remained unclear how Trump was transferred from the C-32A back to the older Air Force One.
The press team traveling with Trump said he descended the stairs of the older presidential aircraft at 10:56 p.m. local time in Britain and raised his hand in a peace sign to reporters, but did not stop to speak with them.
He then spent some time greeting members of the armed forces before heading toward the new aircraft gifted by Qatar.
When asked to comment on the revelation that Trump had secretly traveled aboard a third aircraft, the White House provided a statement from Communications Director Steven Cheung, who said the Qatari aircraft was equipped with high-level security protocols designed to protect the president and his staff.
“As the president recently said, there are a large number of enemies of the United States targeting him, and we are using every means available to us to counter those threats,” Cheung said. The statement was the same one provided to The Washington Post.
The U.S. Department of War (Pentagon) has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The new aircraft, which Trump chose to have painted in red, white, dark blue and gold, is a Boeing 747 gifted to the United States by Qatar last year.
It was refurbished by defense contractor L3Harris Technologies and was intended to serve as a temporary replacement as Boeing faces significant delays in delivering two next-generation Air Force One aircraft.
