New Delhi: US President Donald Trump has confirmed that he was secretly moved to a different aircraft while leaving Turkey last month after US security
officials received what was described as a credible Iranian assassination threat.
Trump, who was in Ankara for the NATO summit, said he followed instructions from the US Secret Service and military officials without seeking details about the threat. The unusual operation involved moving him from the presidential aircraft to a smaller military jet while the original Air Force One continued its journey as a decoy. “I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane,” Trump told reporters. “I do what they say.”
Trump confirms media reports on plane swap
Trump’s confirmation comes a day after a Washington Post report said that the US President was secretly moved to a military aircraft in Turkey last month after US intelligence identified a credible assassination threat linked to Iran.
Trump had publicly boarded an older version of Air Force One in Ankara on July 8, with journalists and some White House staff believing he was travelling aboard the aircraft to Britain. However, after boarding the presidential jet, Trump was reportedly moved out through an airport catering truck and taken to a smaller US military aircraft, a C-32A, the report claimed.
The US President has now confirmed this, and also added that the plane he flew on after he secretly took the military flight was “at greater risk”. “I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk. I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for,” he added.
He further attributed the reason for the plane swap in Turkey to be the various occasions where he has seen threats to his life. “I have a lot of threats that you don’t know about. Any consequential President has a lot of threats. Non-consequential Presidents don’t get threatened and I think that I’m maybe the most consequential President.” He added that he was not particularly concerned about the risks, saying, “I don’t worry about anything, to be honest. Whatever it is, you know my attitude? Whatever.”
