President Trump said on August 11 that he was following the Secret Service and military’s advice when he was secretly moved from Air Force One to a smaller military aircraft during his departure from Turkey in July, deflecting responsibility for the unusual security operation that left reporters and White House staff aboard the decoy plane.
“It’s up to Secret Service. I just follow what they’d like to do. I go by Secret Service and the military,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews upon his return from Ohio. “They wanted me to go on a different plane, a different plane, uh, equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I do it.”
The July 8 incident unfolded as an elaborate ruse. Trump arrived at the NATO summit in Ankara aboard a newly retrofitted Qatari-donated jet, a red, white and blue Boeing 747. When departing, he boarded the traditional powder-blue Air Force One, the legacy aircraft his administration said it was retiring from service. But after boarding, Trump was secretly transferred to a smaller C-32A military aircraft using an airport catering truck as cover, according to reporting from the Washington Post and New York Times. The decoy Air Force One then flew from Turkey to a Royal Air Force base in Suffolk, England, carrying journalists and some White House staff who remained unaware of the switch.
The Secret Service had urged the switch as a security precaution after U.S. officials determined there was a credible threat of an Iranian assassination attempt on Trump. The threat, relayed to Trump by Israel, involved the potential use of shoulder-fired missiles against Air Force One, according to the Wall Street Journal. Trump had publicly announced his intention to terminate a ceasefire with Iran over attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and he told reporters at the NATO summit, “I’m number one on the kill list for Iran.”
When asked whether he was concerned about the safety of the passengers aboard the decoy Air Force One, Trump argued that his aircraft was at greater risk. “I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plan I think that we, that they would be more likely to go for,” he said. The operation reportedly left even some White House aides in the dark about Trump’s actual whereabouts, and neither the White House nor the Secret Service publicly confirmed details of the incident until the reporting emerged.
The plane switch, while dramatic, is not unprecedented in presidential security. In 2000, President Bill Clinton used a similar decoy ruse when departing from India to Pakistan. Clinton flew in an unmarked plane that followed the traditional Air Force One, and the switch was revealed only when he disembarked for a six-hour visit. USA TODAY reported that Clinton’s White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart had informed a small pool of journalists in advance on an off-the-record basis, ensuring independent observers were aware of the president’s whereabouts—a practice Trump’s operation did not follow.
Trump flew on both the Qatari-gifted jet and the older Air Force One planes since the incident. On August 9, he took a short flight from Morristown airport near his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey to Joint Base Andrews on one of the powder-blue planes. By August 11, he was back aboard the red, white and blue Qatari jet for a trip to Ohio. When asked if he was surprised by the need to switch planes, Trump said he receives many threats. “I have a lot of threats that you don’t know about,” he said. “Any consequential presidents have a lot of threats. Non-consequential presidents don’t get threatened.”
The incident has raised questions about the security capabilities of the new Air Force One, which was designed to replace the aging fleet of presidential aircraft. The New York Times previously reported that the newer Qatari-gifted plane lacked certain defensive countermeasures present on the legacy aircraft, including systems designed to defeat heat-seeking missiles. The Secret Service’s decision to move Trump off the newer plane suggests that those security gaps may have been a factor in the decision, separate from the Iranian threat itself.
Sources
- Central Oregon Daily News — Trump’s statement to reporters on August 11 attributing the plane switch decision to Secret Service and military
- USA TODAY — Historical precedent of Clinton’s 2000 decoy plane ruse to Pakistan and comparison to Trump’s operation
- Washington Post — Details of the July 8 plane switch operation, the catering truck transfer, and the Iranian threat
- Wall Street Journal — Israeli warning to Trump about potential Iranian missile threat to Air Force One
- New York Times — Secret Service’s recommendation for the plane switch and defensive capability gaps in the new Air Force One
- AP News — Trump’s confirmation that Secret Service and military wanted him off Air Force One
