Trump Secretly Flew From Turkey

“WASHINGTON -- President Trump was secretly flown out of Turkey last month on a military jet after the U.S. government was told of an Iranian threat against the president and Air Force One, according to a U.S. official and another person briefed on the matter.

 

Trump boarded Air Force One following a meeting with world leaders in Ankara but was then transported to the military jet in an airport catering truck, the official and the person said.

 

The U.S. official said Israel briefed the Trump administration on the intelligence, which included a threat to use shoulder-to-air missiles to target Air Force One. Some of the president's top aides stayed on Air Force One, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the official said.

 

No missiles were fired at any of the planes, the U.S. official said, adding that it was the first time in Trump's presidency that such a decoy effort had been used.

 

It couldn't be determined how credible the threat against the president was. At the time, Secret Service officials believed they needed to take extraordinary steps to protect the president, the official said.

 

"It's really just up to Secret Service," Trump said after returning from an event in Ohio on Tuesday night. "I just follow what they like to do. So I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, a different plane for safety."

 

The previously undisclosed effort to secretly move Trump to another plane, which was earlier reported by the Washington Post, came amid an escalating war with Iran.

 

 Iran for years has vowed openly to retaliate against Trump for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, who was a top general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

 

The president and his top aides said at the time that Trump flew out of Turkey on an older version of Air Force One, claiming that a separate Qatari-donated plane was headed to the U.K. so troops stationed there could see it.

 

"For old time's sake, we'll be taking the former Air Force One, from Turkey to Mildenhall, a short trip that is totally worth doing in order to give our Great Military Heroes a chance to appreciate our beautiful new addition to the Air Force Fleet!" Trump, a Republican, wrote on Truth Social in July.

 

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the Secret Service, the White House's military office and some national-security officials made the decision for Trump not to fly to the U.K. on the Qatari plane because it lacked adequate defensive capabilities.

 

The decision, however, to secretly put the president on a smaller plane while reporters and others traveling with him flew on the older Air Force One raises questions about the severity of the alleged Iranian assassination plot against Trump and the White House's transparency to the public about the president's movements.

 

White House officials met on Tuesday with the White House Correspondents' Association to discuss the incident.

 

Reporters traveling on the older Air Force One from Turkey to the U.K. last month were asked to close their window shades as the plane took off.

 

Asked later that day if he knew why reporters were asked to close the shades, Trump replied: "You're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with."

 

"I'm number one on their list, before you," he said. "But if I go, you go, right? So perhaps some day you want to change professions."

 

Trump didn't disclose that he didn't travel on the plane and had secretly switched to a military jet.

 

The president was furious when the New York Times reported last month about the lack of defensive capabilities on the Qatari-gifted plane, the Journal previously reported. The Trump administration recently subpoenaed Times reporters who wrote about security concerns involving the jet.

 

The Justice Department later said that it would withdraw the subpoenas after a federal judge grilled prosecutors over whether they had followed proper procedures for the criminal investigation.

 

The Qatari government gave the U.S. the Boeing 747 last year after Trump complained that the planes he was required to fly on as president were too old and small.

 

Ownership of the plane was transferred to the Air Force in the spring of 2025 and it was flown to an L3Harris Technologies facility in Texas in May 2025. The Boeing jet was swept for threats and went through a $400 million overhaul that included state-of-the-art security and technology for the president, such as a new communications system.

 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said recently that the Qatari plane would receive an upgrade in the fall but didn't elaborate on what the upgrade would entail. She said the new plane is "perfectly safe for the president's travels."

 

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump's aides used a similar decoy plane after learning of threats against his life. Aides joked during the campaign that they were "the bait" on such flights.” [1]

 

1. Trump Secretly Flew From Turkey. Dawsey, Josh; Levine, Marianne.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 12 Aug 2026: A1.