President Donald Trump was reportedly whisked off Air Force One inside a catering cart last month, in what officials described as an extraordinary deception designed to counter possible Iranian assassination threats.
The commander-in-chief was returning from a NATO summit in Turkey when he was secretly removed from the aircraft and transferred to a different military plane, The New York Times reports.
Trump had flown to Turkey on a new 747-8 provided by Qatari officials, a jet the Trump administration has spent heavily to upgrade with enhanced security features.
But as the summit wrapped up, Trump announced that he would skip the newly outfitted aircraft and instead fly home on an older model, saying he was doing so for “old time’s sake.”
With cameras rolling at an airport in Ankara, Trump was then seen walking onto the older-model plane, which was scheduled to travel to a U.S. military base in the United Kingdom.
Behind the scenes, however, officials familiar with the reported operation told the Times that Trump had covertly slipped into a food cart positioned beneath the aircraft amid threats from Iranian officials.
From there, he was moved by an airport catering truck — the kind normally used to load meals and supplies onto Air Force One — to a smaller Air Force C-32A aircraft, according to the Washington Post.
Video from the tarmac obtained by the Post shows Trump waving toward cameras as he approaches the older-model plane, before a truck is seen moving toward the steps of the C-32A.
President Donald Trump was reportedly smuggled off Air Force One in a catering cart in a ruse due to the threat of an assassination from Iranian officials
A catering truck was visibly parked on the opposite side of Air Force One after Trump boarded the plane on July 8
The video shows a man in a suit entering the catering truck’s cab before a container was loaded into the bed of the vehicle, which then pulled away from Air Force One.
But the container had notably been lifted to the level of the plane for several minutes.
When the container was then lowered, a person in a suit stepped out of the truck’s cab, which remained at ground level, and ascended the stairs leading up to the nearby C-32A.
Moments later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was seen boarding the C-32A separately using external stairs as part of an attempt to make the flight appear typical.
When journalists then boarded the plane they believed the president was on, White House staff directed them to close their window shades.
The plane carrying the journalists then took on the Air Traffic Control sign ‘Air Force One’ mid-flight, even though the designation is technically meant for any plane on which the president is onboard.
Meanwhile, the C-32A flight Trump and Hegseth were on used the call sign ‘Reach 18’ or ‘RCH18,’ according to the Washington Post. Such ‘Reach’ signs are typically used for personnel transport flights and those that haul military equipment.
Trump was seen boarding an older-model plane that was set to transport him to a United States military base in the UK as cameras rolled at an airport in Ankara
Trump was reportedly smuggled off the plane using a container connected to a catering truck
After the two planes then landed in the UK, Trump was apparently smuggled from the C-32A to the legacy Air Force One jet, from which he was seen descending external stairs.
From there, Trump embarked on the Qatari-donated plane to travel back to Washington with the White House press pool.
Onboard that aircraft, the president spoke to journalists for about 15 minutes, highlighting the threat that Iran poses.
When he was then asked why reporters were ordered to lower their window shades on the plane in Turkey, Trump said it was ‘because you’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with.’
He then added that he has a ‘threat all the time’ on his life and that he is ‘number one’ on Iran’s ‘list.’
President Donald Trump spoke with reporters onboard the Qatari-donated plane on his way back to Washington DC
The report comes weeks after White House Communications Director Steven Cheung first suggested administration officials engaged in subterfuge as Trump was departing the summit.
‘As the president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him and we use every tool at our disposal – including distraction and misdirection – to address those threats,’ Cheung previously told The Times.
The statement suggests administration officials viewed the Iranian threat as credible, taking extreme precautions to ensure the president’s safety amid renewed military strikes on Iran.
But the threats were not directed at the Qatari-donated jet itself, Cheung noted as he denied that the plane posed a security risk.
‘The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,’ he said in a statement to the Washington Post.
The Daily Mail has also reached out to the White House for comment.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
