Trump Secretly Switched Planes During Turkey Trip Amid Iranian Missile Threat
9 sources across 9 countries
Who reported this
- elDiarioAR
- The Daily Star
- G1
- Der Spiegel
- Telex
- Aftenposten
- El Pais
- Neue Zuercher Zeitung
- Al-Monitor
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
President Donald Trump was secretly transferred from Air Force One to a smaller military aircraft while leaving Turkey on July 8 following a credible threat from Iran. According to multiple reports, the operation involved smuggling the president out of the presidential jet via a catering truck to a C-32A jet to avoid a potential missile attack. The original Air Force One aircraft continued to fly with a group of journalists, White House staff, and high ranking officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Many of those on board were unaware that the plane was serving as a decoy. Trump later confirmed the switch, stating he followed the directions of the Secret Service, though he claimed the smaller plane he actually used might have been at greater risk.
Intelligence reports indicated that Iran had been monitoring Trump's visit to Ankara for a NATO summit and may have known the exact floor of his hotel. Some reports specify that a person with a shoulder fired missile was seen near the summit. However, some sources indicate that the CIA and other officials doubted the credibility of the intelligence, suggesting that Israel may have provided the information to influence U.S. policy in the region. To maintain the illusion of a normal departure, journalists on the decoy plane were ordered to keep their window shades closed. Upon landing at RAF Mildenhall in Great Britain, the president appeared to descend from the presidential aircraft as part of a continued ruse before eventually boarding a new Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar for the final leg to Washington.
Outlets with a center left lean have focused on the ethical implications of using journalists and government officials as unwitting decoys, with some noting that Democrats are calling for a Congressional investigation. Center right outlets have framed the event as a standard, albeit elaborate, security maneuver, placing it in the context of historical secret trips taken by previous presidents to high risk areas. Center outlets have provided a more technical breakdown of the operation and the specific missile threats involved.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- Framed the event as a dangerous and deceptive operation that used journalists and officials as bait.
- Centre
- Focused on the operational details of the ruse and compared it to historical presidential security protocols.
- Centre-right
- Presented the maneuver as a necessary security measure consistent with Secret Service practices for protecting presidents.
Sources
- Centre-right Aftenposten: The president's plane swap fooled everyone. : It does not look good for Trump.
- Centre Al-Monitor: Credible missile threat led to secret aircraft switch for Trump, source says
- Centre Al-Monitor: 'If I go, you go, right?': Traveling on the presidential plane - without Trump
- Centre Al-Monitor: Factbox-After Trump's Turkey ruse, a look at past secret presidential trips
- Centre-left Der Spiegel: CIA apparently doubted Iranian threat to Trump
- Centre-left El Pais: Criticism of Trump for using journalists and high officials as decoys to leave Turkey
- Centre-left G1: Air Force One, seen as a target of Iran, took off carrying high ranking US authorities, such as Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent
- Centre-right Neue Zuercher Zeitung: Donald Trump's clandestine return flight from Turkey: The Secret Service often protects American presidents with deception maneuvers
- Centre Telex: Two of Trump's ministers also remained on the Air Force One used as a decoy after the NATO summit in Turkey
- Centre The Daily Star: After Trump's Turkey ruse, a look at past secret presidential trips
- Centre-left elDiarioAR: The US used journalists as decoys after hiding Trump in a container given the threat from Iran
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.