US President Donald Trump addressed criticism regarding a secret decision to fly him out of Turkey on a different aircraft while the White House indicated he was aboard Air Force One. Trump stated that the Secret Service and military insisted on the use of a decoy plane in response to unspecified safety threats.
“They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I do it. I do what they say,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday, August 12th, after deplaning Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington while returning from Ohio.
The maneuver, initially reported by The Washington Post, was prompted by an Iranian assassination threat against Trump. Journalists, White House staff, and other government officials aboard Air Force One were led to believe the president was flying with them back to the US from a NATO summit in Ankara.
When asked about the threat, Trump replied, “I guess there was a threat out there, I didn’t really ask too much about it.” He confirmed the covert plane switch upon departure from Turkey but declined to elaborate on why the military deemed it safe for others to fly on the regular presidential aircraft but not for him.
“I don’t know, I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” the president added.
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