Trump Moved Off Air Force One Over Missile Threat
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- Secret Service deemed a threat that Air Force One could be hit by a shoulder-fired missile as credible and imminent on the final day of Trump's NATO summit visit to Ankara, prompting a last-minute operation to conceal his movements.
- Trump and a small group of aides used a catering truck to surreptitiously switch to a smaller, nondescript C-32A jet, while Air Force One departed separately carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and a 13-person press pool as a decoy.
- A second source briefed on the matter said there was no clear execution plan by hostile actors—only an intent—which is why the planes were still allowed to fly; the source declined to identify where the intelligence came from.
- The threat may have involved newer heat-seeking missiles that home in on hot aircraft engines, such as the Iranian SA-67 or the Russian-made 9K333 Verba shoulder-mounted weapon, according to Mitchell Institute executive director Douglas Birkey.
- The New York Times separately reported that U.S. officials were alarmed to discover that Iranians knew Trump's exact location in Ankara, including the floor of his hotel.
- Critics questioned whether the ruse left aides and journalists aboard the decoy plane at risk, though the first source said it was determined to be in Trump's best interests to keep the swap secret as tensions with Iran escalated.
Why it matters: The Secret Service routed a 13-person press pool and senior officials—including Rubio and Bessent—onto the plane presumed to carry the president because it had no time to devise a safer plan, and the NYT separately reports the threat extended to adversaries knowing Trump's exact hotel floor in Ankara, raising questions about how exposed the decoy's passengers truly were.
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