President Donald Trump appeared to board Air Force One in Ankara and prepare for an ordinary flight home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then he vanished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shortly before the presidential jet departed Turkey on July 8, Trump was secretly moved from the aircraft with the help of an airport catering truck and taken to a smaller military plane, according to explosive new reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The covert switch followed intelligence about a reported Iranian plot to target the president\u2019s aircraft as it left the Turkish capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CBS News reported<\/a> that U.S. intelligence had detected a credible plan involving Iran and its allied proxies to fire a missile at the plane carrying Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump had already acknowledged the danger during the NATO summit, describing himself as Iran\u2019s \u201cnumber one target.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Television cameras captured Trump climbing the stairs of the older, blue-and-white Air Force One at Ankara Esenbo\u011fa Airport. A catering truck could be seen parked against the opposite side of the aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minutes later, the truck pulled away and drove toward another U.S. government plane\u2014an Air Force C-32A, according to The Washington Post<\/a>, which first revealed the deception operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump flew to a refueling stop in the United Kingdom aboard the smaller plane. Meanwhile, reporters and some members of the president\u2019s staff traveled the same route on the older presidential aircraft, apparently believing Trump was with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They had unknowingly become part of the decoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reporters aboard the plane were instructed to keep the window shades in the press cabin closed. When later asked about that order, Trump said they were \u201cprobably on a dangerous flight\u201d because of the adversaries the United States was confronting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The operation was so tightly controlled that the administration never publicly disclosed that the president had traveled separately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The unusual security measures unfolded during a dangerous moment in the conflict with Iran. The United States had launched fresh strikes against Iranian targets shortly before Trump\u2019s departure, further raising fears that Tehran or one of its proxies could retaliate against the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> that Israel had warned Washington about a possible Iranian plot to kill Trump. Some U.S. officials reportedly questioned how fully credible that intelligence was, but the warning was serious enough to help trigger extraordinary precautions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CBS later reported that U.S. intelligence had identified a specific missile threat against Trump\u2019s aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The differing assessments underline the uncertainty security officials faced: They could not know whether an attack was imminent, but they could not afford to assume it was a bluff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The deception apparently did not end when Trump landed in Britain.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA Presidential-Scale Decoy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Iran Threat Behind the Ruse<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Disappearing Act Continued<\/h2>\n\n\n\n