US President Trump Switched Aircraft After 'Credible' Iranian Threat, Officials Say
President Donald Trump abruptly switched aircraft while leaving Turkey this month after U.S. officials assessed a credible threat that Iranian proxy forces were targeting him and Air Force One, according to multiple people briefed on the matter.
The threat emerged while Trump was attending the NATO summit in Ankara. He had flown into Turkey on a new Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar, which lacks the advanced defensive capabilities of the older Air Force One aircraft, as previously reported.
After U.S. intelligence picked up on the threat, the Secret Service urged Trump to change planes. He later announced he would use the older aircraft to leave the country. The information about the nature of the threat has not been reported before and sheds light on why the White House moved swiftly to swap planes.
The intelligence did not indicate that proxy forces had a specific focus on the new plane, but rather that they were targeting Trump and whatever aircraft he was traveling in. The people briefed on the matter spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive information.
The White House did not comment. In response to questions, a senior administration official pointed to Trump's public remarks about Iran's efforts to kill him and expressed confidence in the steps taken to protect the president. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
The details of the threat were not widely disseminated even within the administration; some officials were told only that the switch was a precautionary measure due to general concerns about Iran. Key members of Congress have not been briefed on the specific threat.
Trump initially said the switch was to give U.S. service members in Britain a chance to tour the new aircraft and denied it was security-related. The Times reported that the Secret Service had urged the switch.
After the Times reported that federal officials had concerns about the security capabilities of the donated jet, the government launched a leak investigation seeking grand jury testimony from Times journalists as well as their phone records. The Justice Department withdrew the subpoenas last Thursday.
On Sunday, Trump appeared to acknowledge that the new plane lacked some features of older Air Force One aircraft, telling a reporter that it would soon be 'maxed out.' The roughly 14-year-old plane underwent a costly but rushed retrofit to serve as Air Force One.
At the time of the swap, there were reports that Israel had shared intelligence with the United States about Iranian efforts to kill Trump. Some U.S. officials viewed Israel's intelligence with skepticism, believing it was an effort to provoke Trump to intensify attacks against Iran. The threat in Turkey that prompted the plane change was separate from the one attributed to Israeli intelligence, according to some people briefed on the matter.
The United States had resumed strikes against Iran while Trump was in Ankara, roughly 1,000 miles from Tehran. While at the summit, Trump spoke openly about Iranian efforts to kill him when asked about the plane swap, saying, 'They want to take out the US leader — me. I’m on every list.'
