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U.S. President Donald Trump secretly switched planes in Ankara last month, using an airport catering vehicle to conceal his location before leaving Türkiye on a smaller military jet amid a reported Iranian assassination threat, according to the report.
Trump had publicly boarded an older Air Force One in front of television cameras after attending a NATO summit in Ankara on July 8. Minutes later, he was moved inside a catering container attached to the aircraft and taken across the tarmac to an Air Force C-32A, The Washington Post suggested.
The unusual switch was meant to keep Trump’s location from becoming known to journalists, members of the public and even some White House staff.
Several aides accompanied Trump inside the container as it was lowered onto a truck and driven to the nearby C-32A. The container was then raised to the smaller plane’s door, allowing Trump and his aides to board out of public view, the report said.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth was also aboard the secret flight but used external stairs to get onto the C-32A separately, a U.S. official told the outlet. The move was intended to make the departure look routine.
The smaller aircraft landed at Mildenhall Air Force Base in the United Kingdom about 9 minutes before the larger Air Force One carrying reporters and White House staff arrived.
Trump later appeared on the larger aircraft, descending its external stairs about 25 minutes after it landed. However, the report could not determine how he transferred from the C-32A back to the presidential jet.
The operation took place after a "credible" Iranian threat against Trump emerged, the official said without disclosing the nature of the threat.
Earlier, several U.S. media outlets had previously reported that intelligence officials had identified a specific threat against the president.
The Wall Street Journal had reported that Israel shared intelligence with the U.S. about an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Trump. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee later confirmed that Israeli intelligence had tipped off U.S. officials about a "very specific plot" against the president.
At the time, Trump and the White House denied that the decision to use the older Air Force One was linked to an Iranian threat or security concerns surrounding the newer aircraft. Trump had said he would take the older plane so U.S. military personnel at the British airbase could tour the newer aircraft.
The White House Communications Director Steven Cheung defended the security of the newer presidential aircraft, saying it had been fitted with "high-level security protocols" to protect Trump and his staff.
The Qatar-gifted Boeing 747-8 had carried Trump to Türkiye on his first overseas trip aboard the aircraft just days after its first flight with him on July 1.
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