Daniel Wolfram
Trump flew on a decoy plane because of a potential assassination attempt
Death threats come with the territory when you’re the President of the United States.
But when you’re traveling on a new airplane that does not have the same abilities as its predecessor, and the enemy knows it, then you have to think fast.
That is what the Trump administration did last month in Turkey.
Flying on a secret plane
When President Donald Trump left the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, last month, he did so by secretly boarding a different military aircraft than the one he was supposed to.
According to an investigation conducted by the Washington Post, Trump was supposed to fly back on the old Air Force One, after he arrived in Turkey on the new Air Force One that was gifted to him by Qatar.
But changes were made to stave off a potential threat from Iran.
Trump gave a different reason
When Trump first declared that he would leave Turkey on the old Air Force One, he took to social media to publicize that the reason for not taking the new jet was a favor and an opportunity for American troops to see the new plane up close.
“To honor our brave men and women of the Military, we are sending the brand new, and truly spectacular, Air Force One to Mildenhall Air Force Base, in the United Kingdom, to give them a chance to tour the Aircraft — Everybody is so excited, and we thought that they should be the first.”
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However, according to evidence analyzed by the Washington Post, that never happened. And Trump did not fly back home on the old jet.
An elaborate scheme
The deception of getting Trump from one plane to another was something out of an action movie.
Trump made sure that he was seen by journalists and photographers boarding the plane before getting in an airport catering truck, which then transported him onto a smaller aircraft, the Air Force C-32A, without anyone noticing.
Trump changed planes without journalists or even some White House staffers realizing. They thought Trump traveled on the same plane as them.
Journalists left in danger
It was first reported by the New York Times that the newly gifted Qatari Air Force One does not uphold the defensive standards and capabilities that the old one does. This report made the Trump administration subpoena several journalists from the Times to find out who leaked the information. It was an unprecedented attack on journalistic freedom and integrity.
Journalists traveling with the administration were then directed to close their blinds before take-off by White House staff, presumably not to catch Trump or any other high-ranking White House member boarding the smaller plane.
When reporters asked afterwards why they had to close the blinds, Trump cautioned, “because you’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags that we have to deal with.”
Then came a warning to journalists after Trump proclaimed that he was “number one” on Iran’s kill ‘list’.
“But if I go, you go. Right? Perhaps someday you want to change professions,” Trump suggested to the reporters.
