Topline
President Donald Trump secretly swapped planes last month and departed Turkey on board a much smaller plane in response to a purported Iranian threat, according to multiple reports on Monday night, the latest development in a saga around Trump’s departure from the NATO summit and Air Force One.
Key Facts
According to the Washington Post, which first reported the story, the president boarded the older Air Force One jet as announced by the White House while leaving Turkey but was secretly then taken to a much smaller plane.
Trump was taken to an Air Force Boeing C-32A plane—the type of jet primarily used by the vice president and other senior cabinet members—onboard an airport catering truck used to carry meals and other supplies.
Previous reporting about Trump’s departure from Turkey focused on him using the old Air Force One jet instead of the new Qatar-gifted one due to its purported lack of security features—but the Post reported that the old plane served as a “decoy” because of the swap.
The New York Times, which corroborated the report, noted that some White House staff members and the reporters on board the larger jet were not made aware of the secret swap and believed they were flying with the president on board.
After the planes landed in the U.K., Trump was secretly brought back on board the older plane that serves as Air Force One and disembarked in view of the reporters before switching over to the Qatar-gifted jet.
The president has not yet publicly commented on the latest reporting about the swap.
Chief Critic
Democratic Party consultant and former President Barack Obama’s ex-campaign adviser David Axelrod criticized the White House’s decision to use the old plane as a decoy with journalists on board. While appearing on CNN, Axelrod said, “Reporters understood that there are elements of that trip that needed to be kept under wraps until after the president was safely in and out of those places,” but noted that the American people deserve to know that the threat level was so high. He also added: “Everyone on that plane was a decoy. If they felt that it was unsafe to be on the plane, then it was unsafe for everybody else to be on the plane as well. So, they at least deserve to know…why this was happening.”
key background
The report about the jet swap comes weeks after concerns about the safety of the new Qatar-gifted jet first emerged as the Ankara trip served as its international debut as the new Air Force One. Trump flew on board the new plane to attend the NATO summit but the White House announced he would fly the first half of his return leg from Ankara to RAF Mildenhall, a U.S. Air Force base in the U.K., on board the old Air Force One. At the time the president and White House insisted that the switch was done to allow U.S. service members stationed at the base “a chance to tour the Aircraft,” however reports suggested that this was done at the request of the Secret Service amid a renewed conflict with Iran. After landing in the U.K., the president switched back over the new Qatari jet.
tangent
While flying on board the new Qatari jet, from RAF Mildenhall in the U.K. to Joint Base Andrews, Trump was asked if he was aware of “any credible threat by Iran to Air Force One.” At the time, the president told the reporter, “Well, I have a threat all the time. I’m number one on their list, before you. But if I go, you go…Perhaps someday you want to change professions.” Trump’s suggestion that he reporters on board Air Force One faced the same threat as him is likely to draw some scrutiny after these reports that they were flying onboard what was effectively a decoy plane.
what do we know about planned upgrades to the Qatar Jet?
Later that month, Trump was asked again about reports of the the Qatari jet lacking certain defensive features like onboard antimissile defense systems. Trump said the plane is set to undergo another set of upgrades and to get its security capabilities “maxed out.” He claimed that the process would take only one month but did not specify what these “maxed out” upgrades would cover and its unclear if the one month timeline will be adequate to bring it on par with the older Air Force One planes.
further reading
Contradicting public statements, Trump took secret flight from Turkey amid Iranian threat (Washington Post)
Trump Said to Have Secretly Used Military Jet to Leave Turkey Amid Threats (New York Times)
Trump Switches Back To Qatari Plane After Leaving Turkey On Old Air Force One (Forbes)