Video: Trump confirms secret plane switch after NATO summit over ‘threat’ in Turkey
Donald Trump
Abdullateef Fowewe
President Donald Trump has confirmed that he followed Secret Service and military orders to quietly switch planes while leaving last month’s NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, after officials warned of a possible Iranian missile threat targeting his aircraft.
Speaking in an interview, Trump said he deferred entirely to his security detail, acknowledging that he did not seek extensive briefings on the reported plot.
Trump said the decision to move him off the presidential jet was made by his protection teams and that he simply complied with their instructions.
“I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane. I do what they say, I guess there was a threat out there. I didn’t really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats,” he said.
The president added that he left the operational details to his security professionals, signaling that he did not press for a full intelligence briefing before departure from Ankara.
He framed the episode as part of the “many threats” he receives, suggesting this was one of several serious warnings his team manages behind the scenes.
According to multiple reports, Trump publicly boarded the older Air Force One 747 in Ankara in full view of cameras, but the aircraft ultimately flew on without him as part of an elaborate decoy operation.
After boarding, he was secretly moved off the jet inside an airport catering truck and transferred to a smaller C-32A military aircraft, while Air Force One carried staff and press to maintain the appearance that the president was aboard.
Officials said the deception was triggered by intelligence streams indicating a potential shoulder-fired missile threat near Ankara, with Air Force One believed to be a possible target.
The unusual maneuver, which left much of the White House entourage on the decoy aircraft, was described by U.S. officials as an extraordinary step even by the standards of presidential protection.
U.S. and allied officials have linked the operation to warnings about an alleged Iranian plot to shoot down Trump’s plane using shoulder-fired missiles.
The Wall Street Journal and other outlets reported that Israeli intelligence tipped off Washington about a plan by Iran to target the president’s aircraft during or shortly after the NATO summit.
American intelligence reportedly picked up multiple streams of information, including indications that Iranian operatives knew Trump’s exact location in Ankara, down to the floor of his hotel, and at least one sighting of a person with a shoulder-fired missile near the summit area.
