U.S. intelligence indicating Iran knew where President Donald Trump was staying in Ankara — down to the floor of his building — and a credible surface-to-air missile threat prompted officials to secretly move him off Air Force One and fly him out of Turkey aboard another military aircraft.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A highly detailed Iranian intelligence picture of President Donald Trump’s location in Turkey, combined with information about a possible surface-to-air missile attack on his aircraft, prompted U.S. security officials to carry out an elaborate deception last month in which Trump publicly boarded Air Force One before secretly leaving aboard a different military jet.
The operation unfolded July 8 as Trump prepared to leave Ankara following the NATO summit. U.S. intelligence had collected multiple streams of information indicating a potentially serious threat to the president as the summit entered its final day.
Iran possessed unusually specific information about Trump’s movements and accommodations, including where he was staying in Ankara and even the floor of the building he occupied, according to two U.S. officials cited by The New York Times.
American intelligence also detected a specific threat against whichever aircraft would be carrying Trump out of Turkey. Separately, officials received a report that someone near the NATO summit had been seen with a shoulder-fired missile.
The combination of intelligence was considered credible enough to trigger extraordinary measures intended to disguise which aircraft was actually transporting the president.
Trump first publicly boarded the older Air Force One, maintaining the appearance that he would depart Turkey aboard the presidential aircraft as usual.
He was then secretly removed from the plane.
Trump was concealed inside an airport catering truck and driven to a smaller military aircraft, which carried him out of Turkey while Air Force One departed separately.
The presidential aircraft was not empty.
Senior administration officials, military personnel, government employees and members of the press remained aboard when it took off, according to The New York Times. Among the passengers were Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and senior White House aides Stephen Miller and Steven Cheung.
The use of Air Force One as part of the deception has generated criticism because many of the people who remained aboard apparently were unaware of the elevated threat that had led security officials to move Trump to another aircraft.
Joseph Hagin, a former adviser in both the Trump and George W. Bush administrations, defended the decision. He argued that people accompanying a president accept significant risks associated with presidential travel and that expanding knowledge of the security plan could have compromised the operation and placed Trump in greater danger.
Trump publicly confirmed the episode Tuesday, saying he acted on instructions from the Secret Service and the military.
“They wanted me to go on a different flight, different plane,” Trump said.
The president, who said he gets “a lot of threats,” said the incident did not frighten him.
The deception did not end when Trump left Turkey.
After traveling separately, Trump later secretly returned to Air Force One in Britain. He subsequently emerged from the presidential aircraft in view of cameras, preserving the appearance that he had remained aboard and helping maintain secrecy around the security maneuver.
The July operation occurred against a backdrop of longstanding threats against Trump linked to Iran.
During the Biden administration, U.S. authorities uncovered an Iranian-linked murder-for-hire plot targeting Trump.
The latest episode presented security officials with a more immediate concern: intelligence indicating not only that Iran possessed extraordinarily precise information about the president’s physical location during an overseas summit, but also that a threat had emerged against the aircraft expected to carry him home.
That intelligence ultimately led U.S. officials to disguise Trump’s departure, send Air Force One away with senior officials and other passengers aboard, and move the president covertly by catering truck to a separate military jet before flying him out of Turkey.
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