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Secret plane swap in Turkey
President Donald Trump secretly switched aircraft while leaving the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, after U.S. intelligence officials received an Iranian assassination threat relayed by Israel.
“The ruse was employed because the U.S. had learned of a threat from Iran and its allied proxies.”
CBS News said the ruse was used because the U.S. had learned of a threat from Iran and its allied proxies and that U.S. intelligence detected a credible plot to fire a missile at the plane Mr. Trump was on as he left Ankara.
Trump told reporters Tuesday that he switched planes at the military and Secret Service’s request, saying, "I guess there was a threat out there."
The Washington Post first reported that Trump was moved from Air Force One to another plane via an airport catering truck, and CBS News described him being whisked to another plane with that help before flying to Britain.
CIA doubts Israel-derived tip
Multiple outlets reported that the CIA viewed the Israeli-provided warning skeptically, with one U.S. official telling The Washington Post that the intelligence "came from Israel, not from US-produced information, and was assessed as low confidence."
Ynetnews said the Washington Post reported that Israeli intelligence was "Israeli-derived, not U.S.-generated, and viewed as low confidence," and that U.S. intelligence officials expressed skepticism to senior Trump administration officials.
Despite those doubts, the Secret Service carried out the decoy operation, and Ynetnews reported that Trump was flown out of Turkey on an alternative military aircraft while Air Force One took off without him.
Trump later described the decision as following Secret Service direction, telling reporters, "They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane. Same safety, but they wanted to do it that way, so I did it."
Congressional pressure and risks
The episode has prompted calls for briefings, with NBC News reporting that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, "The Senate should be immediately briefed on the Iranian threats against the President" and that it was "unacceptable that Congress was kept in the dark."
““The Senate should be immediately briefed on the Iranian threats against the President"”
NBC News also quoted Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., calling Trump’s undisclosed travels "downright scary" and saying, "There has to be a congressional briefing because it involves not just the safety of the president."
CBS News reported that the White House did not publicly disclose the decoy operation and that Trump’s staff and the press traveled on Air Force One believing they were on the same aircraft as the president.
In the background of the Iran war, BBC described the swap as illustrating personal stakes, saying Trump left the media and most White House staff to depart on the presidential Air Force One 747 jet that became, "essentially, a decoy."
