President Donald Trump has confirmed reports that he secretly switched aircraft while departing Turkey last month after officials identified a credible threat from Iran, in an episode that has drawn fresh scrutiny of the security surrounding his travel.
According to multiple reports first broken by the Washington Post, Trump appeared to board the older Boeing VC-25A jet that traditionally serves as Air Force One as he left the NATO summit in Ankara on July 8. In reality, he was quietly transferred — via an airport catering truck positioned to shield him from view — onto a smaller Air Force Boeing C-32A, an aircraft type typically used by the vice president and senior cabinet officials. The original jet then continued on with press pool members and White House staff who believed the president remained aboard.
Only a small circle of officials were reportedly aware of the switch at the time; even most staffers on the decoy flight did not know Trump was not with them, and the White House did not disclose the change in aircraft as it happened. The maneuver reportedly concealed Trump’s location for several hours, both from the public and from many senior administration officials.
Officials said the threat stemmed from intelligence, reportedly shared in part by Israel, pointing to an Iranian assassination plot tied to the ongoing fallout from U.S. strikes on Iran and the collapse of related peace negotiations. A retired Secret Service agent described state-sponsored threats of this kind as being on “a whole other level,” noting Iran’s history of targeting Trump following the 2020 strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
Trump had arrived in Turkey aboard a newer jet gifted by the Qatari government, which he later acknowledged lacked certain defensive systems, including onboard anti-missile protections. At the time of the plane swap, he told reporters he was returning to the older Air Force One “for old time’s sake.” He has since said the Qatari aircraft is undergoing further upgrades intended to bring its security capabilities up to standard, though he did not detail the scope of the work or confirm whether a stated one-month timeline would be sufficient.
White House communications director Steven Cheung, asked directly about the secret switch, did not address the question head-on, instead stating that the newer Air Force One “has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff.”
The disclosure adds to a string of reported threats against Trump and has intensified debate over the readiness of his current presidential aircraft, as the administration works to finish outfitting the Qatari-donated jet with security upgrades comparable to those on the retiring fleet.
