AiBotIn a shocking revelation that sheds light on the intricate security measures surrounding high-ranking officials, The Washington Post has reported that then-US President Donald Trump was secretly switched to a different plane from the one he had publicly boarded at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, amidst a credible Iranian assassination threat.
Accordance to sources cited by the newspaper, Trump had initially arrived in Türkiye on the state-of-the-art presidential plane gifted by Qatar, a Boeing 747-8. However, for its departure, he chose to board the older legacy Air Force One, a Boeing 747-200, as part of his farewell gesture to the aircraft he had used throughout his presidency.
While boarding the former, which remained open to media coverage, Trump revealed to reporters that his decision was motivated by a sense of nostalgia and a desire to experience the legacy aircraft ‘for old time’s sake.’ Minutes after boarding, he, along with a limited group of aides, was discreetly shifted to a separate, smaller plane – a C-32A, a modified 757.
This plane, which had been stationed out of the media’s line of sight, made an unusual stop at the airport and then proceeded to pick up the former president and his staff through an airport catering truck, whose hydraulically operated container was raised to a door positioned to prevent detection by journalists and White House personnel remaining on the legacy Air Force One.
The older plane, which retained its iconic Air Force One call sign, then flew the same route as Trump’s actual plane, landing minutes apart at RAF Mildenhall in the UK on the evening of 4th December 2022.
This elaborate security operation suggests that the US Secret Service had reason to believe an Iranian assassination threat existed and was acting accordingly to protect the ex-president.