Last month, President Trump secretly switched from Air Force One to another plane via a catering truck during the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. This covert move occurred within a day after U.S. and Turkish intelligence agencies intercepted credible information about an Iranian plot to fire a surface-to-air missile at the presidential aircraft.

According to two U.S. officials who spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the matter, the National Security Agency, CIA, and Turkey's MIT intelligence service detected streams of intelligence indicating the threat. Reports also mentioned a team in Turkey assigned to launch the missile.

The president had arrived in Ankara on a newly retrofitted Boeing 747 donated by Qatar, while an older white-and-blue jet, which has served as Air Force One since the 1990s, was on the ground as a support aircraft. The National Security Council, White House Military Office, and Secret Service jointly decided to change planes for safety reasons.

Trump acknowledged the risks publicly, referring to himself as "number one on the kill list for Iran" shortly before departing Ankara. On his social media platform Truth Social, he mentioned choosing the older Air Force One over the newer Qatari jet for "old time's sake."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accompanied the president on the C-32A plane, which flew from Turkey to a U.K. military base. While some White House staff and reporters were unaware, sources said that Rubio and Bessent knew the plane was not carrying the president.

Trump told reporters he was not surprised or worried by the threat, emphasizing that "any consequential president has a lot of threats."

Sources