US President Donald Trump was whisked off a plane through a catering container to another aircraft in a covert operation to mask his location over a threat from Iran.
The Washington Post first reported the details of the clandestine operation which happened last month when Trump travelled to Ankara, Turkey, for a NATO summit.
A US official told The Post that the president boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight.
Trump and other officials had said publicly that he would be leaving Turkey on July 8 aboard one of the older versions of Air Force One rather than a luxury 747-8 donated by Qatar that he had flown in on. White House officials had expressed concerns that the Qatari plane lacked certain security measures and noted that the aircraft will soon be further retrofitted.
Officials told CBS News that the US detected a credible Iranian threat to fire a missile at the plane Trump intended to board.
The threat posed by Iran, which was considered extremely serious and immediate, included the possible use of shoulder-to-air missiles. The threat came as the US renewed its attacks on Iran.
According to authorities, the move to use the other plane was a “snap decision”.
The president was spirited to a smaller C-32A military aircraft — a modified Boeing 757 often used by the vice-president — which he flew in secret to the United Kingdom, an official with knowledge of the matter told the New York Times.
Reporters on the older plane which Trump had first boarded were not alerted of the president’s new travel plans, making them unwitting participants in the ruse and leaving them, along with some White House staff members, to serve as unknowing decoys.
Only Pete Hegseth, defence secretary, was said to have joined the president in switching planes.
After Trump arrived in the UK, he was secretly moved back to the older version of Air Force One. He then disembarked in view of reporters and walked across the tarmac to the plane donated by Qatar, which he flew to Washington.
NBC News said Steven Cheung, White House communications director, did not dispute The Post’s story, which cited material reviewed by the newspaper, a US official familiar with the operation and another person with knowledge of the president’s travel.
