Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) sharply criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday for a secret plane swap that occurred last month during the July NATO summit in Turkey. Trump flew out of Turkey on a different jet than the original Air Force One he boarded, a move Coons described as disrespectful to the press and members of the Cabinet.

In an interview on "CNN News Central," Coons said that news reporters and Cabinet officials who accompanied Trump "should not have been put on a plane" that was at serious risk of a potential Iranian attack. The Washington Post reported that the threat of an attack from the Islamic Republic amid ongoing conflict prompted Trump’s move from the old Air Force One to a smaller Air Force C-32A plane via a catering truck before departing Ankara.

Coons told host Sara Sidner, "I understand putting a priority on the president’s security, but frankly, this was just a despicable incident of disrespect for the press and for members of his own Cabinet. They should have been allowed to disembark and to fly home another way, rather than taking off on the No. 1 plane."

Reports indicate that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent left Turkey on the original Air Force One, effectively serving as a decoy. Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller was also reportedly on the larger plane with the press and other White House officials. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House aides Natalie Harp, Walt Nauta, and Dan Scavino flew with Trump on the smaller plane to London, according to CBS News.

On Tuesday, Trump stated that the switch was made at the direction of Secret Service and military officials, asserting that the smaller Air Force plane he flew on "was at greater risk."

Coons, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, questioned the decision, saying, "If you were Secretary Rubio or Secretary Bessent or [Stephen] Miller, how do they feel about having been left as decoys?" He added that even if intelligence confidence was low, it did not seem like an intelligent choice for the president to leave in a catering truck while key Cabinet members and the traveling press took off on Air Force One.

Sources