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Catering Truck Decoy
President Donald Trump secretly left the NATO summit in Turkey last month by being moved between aircraft in an airport catering truck, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the plan described by NBC News.
“President Donald Trump was whisked out of Turkey last month on a military aircraft in an elaborate plot to keep his location secret”
The operation was carried out after the U.S. detected a credible Iranian threat to fire a missile at the plane Mr. Trump was on as he left Ankara, CBS News reported.
Trump had earlier said he would use an older Air Force One when departing Ankara, and the White House said the new Qatari-donated jet was fitted with “high-level security protocols” to ensure the safety of the president and his staff, NBC News reported.
In the Reuters account, the White House said Trump was flying aboard Air Force One from Turkey to Britain, but moments after he boarded, he left it in secret via the catering truck and boarded another aircraft for the flight to Britain.
Reuters said the C-32A carrying Trump flew to Britain and arrived at around 10:20 p.m., while Trump’s traveling press pool reported he climbed down the stairs of the older Air Force One at 10:56 p.m.
Trump, Cheung, and Congress
Trump told reporters the decision to make the switch in Ankara was made by the “Secret Service and the military,” and he said, “I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, different plane.”
CBS News reported that when asked why the window shades needed to be closed, Trump said: “Because you're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags we have to deal with.”
White House communications director Steven Cheung did not directly confirm or deny the reports to the BBC’s US partner CBS News, but he said the new Air Force One was a “state-of-the-art aircraft” fitted with “high-level security protocols.”
NBC News reported that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “The Senate should be immediately briefed on the Iranian threats against the President, the extraordinary measures taken to get him out of Turkey, any risks posed to U.S. personnel, and any threat to the homeland,” adding it was “unacceptable that Congress was kept in the dark.”
Iran Threats and Aftermath
The Guardian framed the episode as reflecting the “severity of assassination threat by Iran,” pointing to a revenge plot to kill Donald Trump after joint US-Israeli strikes in February that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and scores of other senior Iranian officials.
“risked making him look “weak””
The Guardian quoted Colin P Clarke of The Soufan Center saying the unusual lengths taken to protect the president while potentially leaving others in harm’s way were “not a good look” and risked making him look “weak.”
Reuters reported that the deception operation was triggered by a credible threat to Trump, and it noted a similar operation in 2000 when President Bill Clinton used an unmarked executive jet to fly into Pakistan while sending his formal Air Force One as decoy.
NBC News said the White House communications director Steven Cheung told reporters the new Air Force One was “state-of-the-art” and fitted with “high-level security protocols,” while the U.S. Air Force said the aircraft was “safe, secure and equipped with the most advanced technologies necessary to meet the requirements of the presidential mission.”
Reuters also reported that the new plane was a Boeing 747 gifted to the United States by Qatar last year and refitted by defense contractor L3Harris Technologies, and it said the trip to NATO was the first international travel for the new plane.
