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A newly reported Secret Service ruse to fly President Trump out of the NATO summit last month in Turkey amid an assassination threat from Iran is raising questions about the president’s security while traveling abroad.
Trump left Ankara on an alternate aircraft because of the threat, The Washington Post first reported Monday. After announcing he would take the old Air Force One from Turkey to the U.K., Trump boarded the plane but was then secretly moved in a catering truck to board a smaller Air Force C-32A plane.
The press pool traveling with the president was not aware of the president’s movements and believed him to be on the same plane they were on, making the situation even more unusual.
The threat to Trump’s life is not only the latest from Iran but the latest in a slew of attempts on the president’s life.
“These state-sponsored threats are a whole other level,” said retired Secret Service agent Timothy Reboulet, describing the threat from Tehran as “deadly serious.”
Iran has a history of targeting Trump following his decision to order the drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Previous administrations had chosen not to attack Soleimani over the chance of retaliation.
“It all goes back to Soleimani,” Reboulet said.
Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign disclosed that it was briefed on what it called “real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States.”
Other U.S. officials have also been targets of Tehran. John Bolton, who served as national security adviser in the president’s first administration, was the target of an assassination plot by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps following Soleimani’s death. Bolton told CNN in 2022 that his Secret Service was pulled in 2019, when he resigned from the administration, but that it was reinstated during the Biden administration because of threats on his life.
Trump’s former secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, was also said to be the subject of an Iranian assassination attempt.
“There’s no messing around with these folks, especially when you talk about state-sponsored [attacks],” Reboulet said, referring to the Iranian regime. “They have all of their proxies that could do it. You never know who it’s going to come from.”
The latest assassination threat against Trump came as the U.S. resumed strikes on Iran, with peace negotiations faltering.
Following the July summit, reports surfaced that Israel had provided the U.S. with intelligence on the plot, prompting the plane swap. At the time, though, the public had only been told that Trump departed Ankara on the old Air Force One, which was understood to be more protective than the refurbished, Qatari-gifted jet. Trump explained the new luxury jet would head to a U.S. base in the United Kingdom to give service members a glimpse.
Upon departure from Turkey, reporters on Air Force One were instructed to close their window shades during takeoff. A Secret Service agent even came to the press section of the plane to remind passengers to keep their window shades closed. The White House reiterated this was done on instruction from the Secret Service.
The Ankara ruse is not the first time a president has used a decoy plane during a precarious security situation.
In 2000, then-President Clinton used an unmarked, white plane instead of a jet thought to be Air Force One to fly from Mumbai to Pakistan. According to a Washington Post piece published during the trip, Clinton was seen by a “few people” boarding the white plane, while Secret Service officials took the plane with the official markings. Clinton’s departure ceremony was broadcast live, but the view of journalists and cameras was somewhat blocked by a U.S. military transport plane, according to the Post.
Clinton White House officials told the publication at the time that the plane, along with decoy men and multiple cars, were a part of a strategy to prevent potential assailants from taking a shot at the president. However, the officials noted there was no specific threat against Clinton.
The Trump administration’s critics argue it could have been more transparent about the decision to put Trump on an unmarked plane.
“All presidents adjust their routines at times based on the threat level, but the problem here is lack of transparency,” a former senior White House official told The Hill.
“Trump should have simply disclosed his change in aircraft to the media once he landed safely, rather than letting reporters and the public find out about it independently weeks after the fact,” the official said, calling the event an example of the “rules-don’t-apply arrogance taken by the Trump White House.”
When asked about the safety of the press and other White House staff members on the plane they believed was Air Force One, the former senior official argued the plane should have remained on the ground until Trump had left in the smaller plane. The former official added that once Trump was out of the area deemed to be a threat, the press and the junior staff should have been briefed on the situation so they could make their own decision on whether to disembark or continue on the plane.
The White House has not confirmed or denied The Washington Post’s story but issued a statement following the report, touting the Qatari-gifted Air Force One.
“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff. As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.”
Reboulet expressed confidence in the Secret Service’s ability to protect Trump, noting the agency’s experience in addressing threats against the president.
“I know behind the scenes they’re doing what needs to be done based on the threat,” he said. “As Mark Twain always said, history doesn’t repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.”
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