U.S. President Donald Trump secretly left Türkiye aboard a smaller military jet last month after a reported Iranian assassination threat prompted a covert security operation, the Washington Post reported on Aug. 10.
Citing a U.S. official familiar with the operation and material it reviewed, the Post said Trump was filmed boarding an older Boeing 747 normally used as Air Force One at Ankara airport on July 8 following a NATO summit.
Trump and several aides then entered the enclosed lift of a catering truck raised to a door on the opposite side of the aircraft. The truck carried them to a nearby Air Force C-32A, which flew the president to RAF Mildenhall in Britain.
Journalists and some White House staff continued aboard the larger aircraft believing Trump remained on board, effectively making it a decoy, according to the report. The journalists were instructed to keep their window shades closed during the flight.
The C-32A landed in Britain minutes before the larger jet. Trump was later seen descending from the larger aircraft, but the Post said it was unclear how he had transferred back. He subsequently boarded the newly modified Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar for the flight to Washington.
Trump had publicly said the Qatar-donated plane was being sent ahead so U.S. military personnel at Mildenhall could tour it, adding that he would use the older aircraft “for old time’s sake.”
The plane switch renewed scrutiny of the defensive systems fitted to the Qatar-donated jet, which entered service in July after a rapid conversion for presidential use. The Post said the aircraft lacked some of the countermeasures installed on the older presidential jets.
The White House did not directly address the reported operation. Communications Director Steven Cheung said the new aircraft had “high-level security protocols” and that officials used “every tool at our disposal” to protect the president.
