Trump secretly departed NATO summit in Turkey aboard alternate military jet amid Iranian assassination threat
President Trump secretly flew out of last month's NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-32A — a modified Boeing 757 — while security officials staged an elaborate ruse using the older Air Force One as a decoy. The operation was prompted by a credible Iranian assassination threat against Trump, according to a Washington Post report citing a U.S. official and reviewed materials. The Associated Press, Reuters, Fox News, and the New York Times all reported on the Post's findings.
President Trump arrived in Ankara on July 8 aboard the new Qatari-gifted Boeing 747-8 for the annual NATO leaders summit. Ahead of his departure, he told reporters he would fly partway home on the older, legacy blue-and-white Air Force One, saying it was so U.S. troops stationed in eastern England could view the new aircraft. That public explanation, according to the Washington Post's report, concealed a far more elaborate security operation.
Intelligence officials had identified a specific Iranian threat targeting Trump's movements following U.S. military strikes against Iranian targets earlier in the summer. To counter it, security officials executed a deception on the Turkish tarmac: Trump boarded the legacy Boeing 747 in full view of television cameras and waved to news crews before entering the cabin. Minutes later, he and a small group of aides were moved via an airport catering truck — lifted hydraulically to a door on the far side of the aircraft — and driven across the tarmac to a waiting Air Force C-32A. Reporters on the legacy jet were instructed to lower their window shades before takeoff. The older 747 then flew as a decoy, initially appearing on radar without a call sign before assuming the "AF1" designation mid-flight, despite Trump not being aboard, according to flight-tracking data reviewed by the Post.
Trump flew separately on the C-32A to RAF Mildenhall in England, landing shortly before the decoy jet. News photographers at Mildenhall captured images of Trump descending the stairs of the legacy Air Force One — suggesting he reboarded that aircraft out of sight before appearing publicly. He and staff then boarded the new Qatari-gifted jet for the return flight to Washington.