Trump’s secret plane swap triggers questions and confusion

Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that he secretly switched planes because of a threat to his life, after the Washington Post revealed the US president was smuggled out of Air Force One to a different aircraft on a catering truck.

“They wanted me to go in a different flight, a different plane -- equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I do it. I do what they say,” Trump told reporters during a gaggle.

“I guess there was a threat out there. I didn’t really ask too much about it.”

The newspaper reported Monday that the secret operation reportedly smuggled Trump off Air Force One before the plane departed, still carrying journalists and top aides who remained at apparent risk of an Iranian strike.

Trump covertly exited the presidential plane while it was on the ground in Turkey on 8 July.

Some traveling media expressed anger at having unwittingly served as decoys, while others complained about deception and lack of communication from the White House.

Trump boarded the presidential jet in full view of video cameras and photographers, with AFP pictures showing two supply containers at the front and rear of the aircraft.

But he then reportedly left the plane, stepping inside one of the cargo containers, to board a smaller US Air Force aircraft positioned nearby.

“I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” Trump told reporters. “Because that would be the plane I think that -- that they would be more likely to go for.”

About a dozen journalists traveling in a separate section of Air Force One with no access to the president were unaware of the switch and flew out of Turkey on the plane despite the apparent threat from Iran, which is at war with the United States.

“Any consequential president has a lot of threats,” Trump said, brushing off concerns.

“I don’t worry about anything, to be honest. Whatever it is, you know my attitude: ‘Whatever.’”

The Wall Street Journal reported Israel had briefed the US about a possible shoulder-to-air missile strike on Air Force One, adding that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was among senior officials and staff who remained on the plane.

Dispatches sent by pool media on board noted a Secret Service order that window shades be lowered during takeoff -- an unusual instruction outside of combat zones.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday called for Congress to be briefed “on the Iranian threats against the president, the extraordinary measures taken to get him out of Turkey.”

Trump’s trip to the NATO summit had already raised eyebrows after he arrived on a luxury Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar and retrofitted to carry the US president.

But it was reportedly not fitted with anti-missile security systems and the old Air Force One was called into action.

Trump claimed at the time that the new plane was being sent ahead for US troops in Britain to tour, as a treat.

At a stopover in Britain, he returned to the Qatar-gifted plane for the flight to Washington.

Asked at the time why journalists had been asked to lower window blinds he said “because you’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with.”

“If I go, you go. Right?” Trump told reporters.

In 2000, Bill Clinton switched presidential planes at the last minute while traveling from India to Pakistan, using a decoy aircraft carrying Secret Service agents.

Joe Biden’s 2023 visit to Ukraine was also shrouded in strict secrecy during a long journey by plane and train, though he was accompanied by a reporter and photographer.