President Donald Trump revealed that he left Air Force One last month after a trip to Turkey because the Secret Service and military directed him to board a "different plane" due to a threat, which he said did not scare him. Trump told reporters after an event in Ohio, "They wanted me to go on a different flight, different plane," adding, "I didn’t really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats."

US intelligence reportedly identified a credible threat that Iran plotted to assassinate Trump. According to reports first published by the Washington Post and the New York Times, Trump left Air Force One in a catering truck as part of a covert operation.

Trump downplayed the extraordinary nature of this subterfuge and the risk it posed to White House officials, security staff, support personnel, and reporters who remained on the plane, as reported by the Associated Press.

Steven Cash, executive director of the Steady State and a former CIA intelligence officer and senior adviser to the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence branch, commented, "It appears that the idea was we can reduce the danger to president Trump by offering up 100 or so people to be killed by the Iranians in his place."

Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal described the operation as "unprecedented and surreal" and "downright scary," calling for a congressional briefing due to the implications for presidential and public safety.

Sources