During a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on August 12, 2026, President Trump boarded a different plane for security reasons related to Iran, while members of his cabinet and staff remained on the initial aircraft designated as Air Force One. According to CBS, the BBC's US partner, officials including Rubio and Bessent stayed on the first plane to maintain the presidential line of succession in case of an emergency.

Vice-President JD Vance is next in line to assume power if the president is incapacitated, followed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. The Secretary of State and the Treasury Secretary follow in the succession order. Other individuals on the decoy plane included White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung.

The second aircraft carrying President Trump also included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to US media reports. Trump told reporters on Monday night that the decision to use a decoy plane was made by the US military and the Secret Service, who "wanted me to go in a different flight."

The precise nature of the security threat remains unclear, with Trump providing no specifics. He noted, "Any consequential president has a lot of threats." Similar security measures have been used in the past; for example, in March 2000, then-President Bill Clinton flew to Islamabad on an unmarked executive jet that landed after a decoy jet with Air Force One livery. "Of course, the dangers threatened the journalists covering the trip as well as President Clinton," a source said in an interview with the Washington Post.

It is currently unknown what, if any, danger the occupants of the decoy plane faced during the Ankara trip.

Sources