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President Trump left last month's NATO summit in Ankara aboard a small US Air Force C-32A after intelligence agencies detected a credible Iranian plot to fire a surface-to-air missile at Air Force One, CBS News reported on August 12. The National Security Agency, the CIA and Turkey's MIT intelligence service picked up the threat within a day of his July 8 departure, according to US officials.
Officials also received reports of a team inside Turkey assigned to fire the missile, though further checks found no such team. The National Security Council, the White House Military Office and the Secret Service made the call to switch aircraft, coordinating the plan with Washington while the summit was still underway.
The deception ran in plain sight. Trump posted on Truth Social that he would fly home on the older Boeing 747 that has served as Air Force One since the 1990s, rather than the newly retrofitted jet donated by Qatar. Press cameras filmed him climbing the stairs of the old plane. Minutes later, a catering truck backed away from the aircraft and drove across the tarmac to the waiting C-32A. Trump was inside it, along with aides Natalie Harp, Walt Nauta and Dan Scavino. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined them on board before the jet flew to a military base in the United Kingdom.
The plane publicly identified as Air Force One flew the same route carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, senior aides and the traveling press corps. Rubio and Bessent knew the president was not aboard. The reporters and some White House staff did not, and journalists in the press cabin were told to keep their window shades closed. In the UK, Trump transferred to the Qatari-donated 747 for the flight back to Washington.
The switch stayed secret for a month, until the Washington Post, CBS News and other outlets reported it this week. NPR reported that Israel first warned the US after obtaining intelligence of a possible Iranian missile threat to the aircraft. Trump confirmed the account on Tuesday, saying the military and Secret Service directed the move. "I think, actually, the plane that I flew on was at greater risk," he said when asked why the danger applied to him but not to the staff and press left on the decoy.
The operation came almost six months into the US war with Iran, and officials told CBS News a significant threat from Tehran against the president remains active. Before leaving Ankara, Trump told reporters he considered himself Iran's top target. Law enforcement officials said the misdirection effort was not intended to place those on the decoy aircraft at greater risk.
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