Trump Smuggled via Catering Truck Over Iran Missile Threat
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- Trump secretly swapped from Air Force One to a smaller C-32A military aircraft (a modified Boeing 757) via a catering truck elevated to plane level at Ankara airport on 8 July, after the US detected a credible Iranian missile threat to his plane.
- Journalists and White House staff boarded Air Force One unaware the president had already left, and were told to close their window shades for the flight to the UK.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boarded the C-32A separately using external stairs in an effort to make the flight appear normal, according to the Washington Post.
- The clandestine maneuver came a day after the US renewed military strikes on Iran following the breakdown of Washington–Tehran negotiations to end the war.
- Trump had arrived in Turkey aboard the newer $400M Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar but announced he would leave on the old Air Force One "for old time's sake," later reboarding the legacy jet at RAF Mildenhall.
- The White House did not directly confirm or deny the swap; press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Qatari-donated jet is "perfectly safe," with additional upgrades to be completed over approximately one month in the fall.
- Older Air Force One planes carry laser technology to blind incoming missiles, but it remains unclear what defensive systems the Qatari-donated jet has — and the Secret Service had previously urged Trump to switch planes, per earlier New York Times reporting.
Why it matters: The episode exposes a security gap around the $400M Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8, whose defensive systems remain undisclosed and unfinished while older Air Force One jets carry proven laser missile-countermeasures. For the Secret Service, the public blow-by-blow of how the president was smuggled out via a catering truck complicates future protective protocols and explains why they had urged a switch in the first place.
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