President Donald Trump’s departure from the NATO summit in Turkey drew a level of secrecy that, according to a new report, went far beyond a routine presidential travel plan. The Washington Post reported that Trump slipped away from Ankara airport in July by using an airport catering truck as cover, while an older Air Force One jet served as a decoy and a smaller military aircraft carried him out of sight.
The report said the maneuver came in response to what U.S. intelligence officials viewed as a credible Iranian threat tied to Trump’s movements. He had arrived in the Turkish capital on July 8 aboard a brand-new Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar. After U.S. military strikes against Iranian targets earlier in the summer, officials identified a specific threat from Iran aimed at the president, according to the account.
To protect him, security personnel reportedly staged a diversion on the tarmac. Trump was seen walking up the stairs of the older blue-and-white Boeing 747 and waving to cameras before entering the aircraft. Moments later, he and a small group of aides were said to have moved out of view into a catering truck that had been raised to an exit door on the far side of the plane. The truck then drove across the runway area to a nearby Air Force C-32A, a modified Boeing 757.
While that transfer was taking place, reporters and White House staff boarded the older 747, believing Trump was on board. They were told to close their window shades before takeoff. The jet departed as a decoy, and flight-tracking data reviewed by the Post showed the aircraft initially appeared without a call sign before taking on the “AF1” designation in flight, even though Trump was not aboard, the report said.
Trump then traveled secretly on the smaller C-32A to RAF Mildenhall in England, arriving shortly before the decoy aircraft. The report said it is unclear how he moved from the C-32A to the older Air Force One after landing in the United Kingdom. At about 10:56 p.m., he later appeared before television cameras and came down the external stairs of the legacy plane, according to a media pool report.
