How Trump Hid In Catering Truck And Fled Turkey On Secret Plane Over “Credible” Iranian Plot

Donald Trump has confirmed he secretly swapped aircraft as he left a NATO summit in Turkey last month after US security officials detected a possible threat.

The US President said he was instructed to change planes by his protection team.

“I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, different plane,” Trump told reporters. “I just have to do what they say.”

The confirmation follows reports that on 8 July, Trump was filmed boarding Air Force One at Ankara airport in full view of television cameras, before being smuggled off the aircraft.

Trump reportedly slipped off the presidential jet onto a catering truck that had been raised to plane level on the opposite side from where he had boarded.

He was then driven to a smaller C-32A military aircraft – a modified Boeing 757 often used by the vice-president.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth boarded the C-32A separately using external stairs in an apparent attempt to make the flight look routine.

To maintain the deception, the C-32A carrying Trump used the call sign “Reach 18”, while the original jet carrying journalists continued to use “AF1”. Technically, “Air Force One” is the call sign for any aircraft carrying the US President.

The original aircraft still had senior officials on board. The New York Times, citing two anonymous officials, reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were among those who remained on the decoy jet.

The switch has raised questions about whether those left on board were placed in danger. Trump said on Tuesday that the jet he actually boarded could have been at “greater risk… because that would be the plane, I think, that they would be more likely to go for”.

Officials told the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, that the US had detected a credible Iranian threat to fire a missile at the plane.

The New York Times reported that US intelligence had information about a person near the NATO summit who had been seen with a shoulder-fired missile.

Trump has previously said he was Iran’s “number one target” during the summit in Ankara.

The clandestine manoeuvre came a day after the US renewed military strikes on Iran following a breakdown in negotiations between Washington and Tehran to end the war.

Trump had arrived in Turkey aboard a newer Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar, but announced he would leave on the older Air Force One “for old time’s sake”.

On the return leg, the US group stopped at RAF Mildenhall in the UK. During that stop, Trump transferred from the C-32A back to the legacy jet, although it is not clear how, as that move was also carried out in secret.

He was next seen descending from the legacy jet as if he had been travelling on it all along, before transferring again to the Qatari-donated aircraft for the final leg to Washington.

More: BBC News