US President Donald Trump has confirmed that he secretly switched aircraft after leaving a NATO summit in Turkey last month following a possible security threat.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the Secret Service and military instructed him to use a different aircraft, reports BBC.
“I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, different plane,” Trump said. “I just have to do what they say.”
The disclosure follows reports that Trump appeared to board Air Force One at Ankara airport on 8 July, before secretly being moved to a military aircraft using a catering truck.
The operation has prompted questions over whether people who remained aboard the decoy aircraft were placed at risk. Trump, however, said the military plane he ultimately boarded faced “greater risk”.
US officials told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that Washington had detected a credible Iranian threat to launch a missile at the aircraft.
Journalists and some White House staff travelling with Trump were reportedly unaware that the president had been removed from Air Force One as part of the elaborate security operation.
Trump had previously claimed that he was Iran’s “number one target” during the summit in Ankara.
The covert manoeuvre took place a day after the US resumed military strikes on Iran following the collapse of negotiations between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending the war.
Trump had travelled to Turkey aboard a newer Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar. He had said he would return aboard the older Air Force One “for old time’s sake”.
Footage from 8 July showed Trump boarding the presidential aircraft at Ankara airport. However, The Washington Post reported that he later left the plane through the opposite side, stepping onto a catering truck that had been raised to the aircraft’s level.
He was then taken secretly to a smaller C-32A military aircraft, a modified Boeing 757 frequently used by the vice-president.
According to the newspaper, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth boarded the C-32A separately using external stairs to maintain the appearance of a routine flight.
Meanwhile, journalists and some White House staff boarded Air Force One and were reportedly instructed to keep their window shades closed. They did not know that Trump was no longer aboard the aircraft.
