Chilling comment Trump made to Air Force One reporters after 'hiding in catering truck' to escape threat
Donald Trump secretly flew out of Turkey on an alternative military jet last month following the NATO summit.
The summit took place on July 7 in Ankara and the president appeared to leave the country to return to the US the following day on his usual Air Force One jet – but it's now been revealed that this was never the case.
While it looked like Trump had boarded Air Force One, it turns out that the 80-year-old then exited the aircraft and was transferred to a different one.
He of course didn't walk across the tarmac though, instead the POTUS reportedly hid inside a catering truck and then boarded a smaller C-32A military aircraft, BBC News reports. He then flew to Mildenhall, England, on that smaller jet.
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The operation is said to have been top secret and journalists and some White House staff didn't know he'd been smuggled off Air Force One.
The Washington Post said the operation was prompted by an Iranian assassination threat against Trump.
When Trump arrived in the UK, he moved onto his new Air Force One jet – gifted to him by Qatar – to travel to Washington.
It was during this flight that reporters actually joined Trump onboard. While he did not address the secret plane swap, he did speak about Iranian threats he was facing.
When reporters asked why they were required to lower their window shades, the president said (per BBC): "Because you're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags we have to deal with."
He said he had a 'threat all the time' on his life, and that he is 'number one' on Iran's supposed 'list'.
Trump added: "But if I go, you go, right? Perhaps someday you want to change professions."
The White House has not officially confirmed that the plane swap operation took place, but communications director Steven Cheung has echoed similar sentiments about the threats Trump faces.
He said in a statement: "As the president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats."
The new Post report on clandestinely putting Trump on a third aircraft and quietly whisking him out of the country adds a fresh layer to just how seriously concerned US security officials were about the threat against Trump during the ongoing war with Iran.
Paul Eckloff, a former special agent with the Secret Service, said such an unusual move could either reflect actionable intelligence or an abundance of caution given volatility in the region with the wars in Iran and Ukraine.
"I would not say unprecedented, but it is an unusual occurrence," Eckloff told The Associated Press.
Topics: Donald Trump, US News
Niamh Shackleton