Trump Secretly Swapped Planes in Turkey Over Iran Threat, Report Says

ANKARA, Turkey —

President Trump secretly left the plane he was expected to fly out on during last month's NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, and boarded a different military aircraft after intelligence officials warned of a threat from Iran, the Washington Post reported. The New York Times later confirmed the account.

A Threat in the Air

The Post reported that American intelligence agencies had picked up word of a credible plan to fire a missile at the aircraft carrying Trump as he left Ankara on July 8. To move him without drawing attention, officials used an airport catering truck, the kind normally used to load food onto planes, to shift him from the older Air Force One jet to a smaller Air Force C-32A, a U.S. official told the Post. CBS News reported the same threat separately, citing a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the operation.

Television cameras caught Trump climbing the stairs of the older Air Force One and stepping inside, with the catering truck parked on the far side of the aircraft, out of view of most cameras, according to CBS News. Minutes later, the truck pulled away and headed toward the second government plane. That is reportedly when Trump made the switch.

Kept in the Dark

Members of the press covering the trip, along with some White House staff, then flew on to a refueling stop in Britain aboard the older jet, believing the president was on board the entire time, the Post and CBS News reported. It was only later that they learned he had already transferred to the other aircraft before takeoff.

Reporters on that flight said they were instructed to keep their window shades closed for the duration of the trip, according to the Post. Neither outlet reported what officials told the traveling press about the reason for that order at the time.

Neither the White House nor the Turkish government has publicly confirmed the specifics of the threat or the plane switch, according to the reporting. It remains unclear how the threat was assessed as credible or which agency first identified it.