Critics are fuming at the Trump administration over the president’s reported scheme to secretly switch planes while departing Turkey last month, leaving staff members and White House correspondents on Air Force One in the midst of security threats from Iran.
“In other words everyone aboard the real 747 AF1 — crew, guests, press pool — was considered expendable,” S.V. Dáte, White House correspondent for HuffPost, wrote on X.
After a NATO summit, the president publicly communicated he would be flying home on the legacy Air Force One rather than the new Qatar-donated jet for “old time’s sake.” However, unbeknownst to those onboard the old plane, President Donald Trump then allegedly hid himself in a catering truck that took him to a separate military jet for the flight, The Washington Post reported.
When the U.S. delegation arrived at an air base in the U.K. as part of its return voyage, Trump was then allegedly put back on the legacy Air Force One, stepping off the plane in view of news cameras. The White House claimed that day he had been “aboard the former Air Force One” on his way back from Turkey.
The Pentagon directed questions to the White House. The Independent has contacted the White House and Secret Service for comment.
“The mental image of Trump hiding from Iran in a catering cart is devastating,” liberal podcaster Tommy Vieter added in a separate post. “A weak, stupid old man hiding from the consequences of his own decision while endangering others.”
“I’ve traveled overseas with multiple presidents and recognize that subterfuge is sometimes a necessary safeguard,” Biden administration State Department spokesman Ned Price wrote on X. “But misleading reporters in the moment and, worse yet, continuing to lie to the American people weeks later is never acceptable. As far as I know, it’s unique to this White House.”
Some defended the trick as a necessary move, given reported intelligence that the president was facing Iran-linked threats to his safety.
“I’m glad they engaged in all this cloak and dagger and all this deception to keep him safe,” CNN commentator Scott Jennings said on Monday, pointing to the string of assassination attempts Trump has faced since 2024.
“Anytime the president is in a theater where there’s potential combat danger, the Secret Service has employed protective counter measures including the use of a decoy,” Donald Mihalek, a former Secret Service agent in the Bush and Obama administrations, told The New York Times.
“The agency is not the agency of public affairs,” he added. “The agency is the agency of the Secret Service. Their No. 1 job is to keep the president safe.”
The alleged bait-and-switch continues the ongoing controversy around the president’s jets.
His original decision to accept a luxury jet from Qatar prompted widespread scrutiny, as did the public spending required to retrofit the jet and prepare it for presidential service.
The Trump administration later alarmed press observers by seeking to subpoena journalists at The New York Times to uncover their sources after the paper reported on security concerns about the ex-Qatari jet.
The subpoena push was subsequently dropped.
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