Screenshot via HBO
Bill Maher pushed back on those upset about President Donald Trump turning the press pool and his own administration officials into unknowing decoys after secretly leaving Air Force One after an Iranian threat.
On Friday’s Real Time, Maher chuckled and declared that Trump had “foiled the assassins again” while running through reports about the plane switch. Trump was reportedly moved by Secret Service after the NATO Summit last month in Turkey from Air Force One to another aircraft over a threat from Iran. Members of the press and officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio were left on Air Force One.
Maher dismissed those outraged over Trump leaving the press and officials in the dark about the threat.
“If the Iranians were going to shoot down that plane, goodbye Marco Rubio and a lot of other people… I’m not judging here. I’m sure that’s what the Secret Service told him to0. My question is, because I’ve heard it is the president’s discretion if he could do that or not, do you think any other president would have done it differently?” Maher said.
He argued former presidents from both sides of the political aisle like Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan would have also taken the Secret Service’s advice and left the plane.
Pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson noted Trump has already faced credible threats against his life, including being shot in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024.
“I don’t blame him. So I kind of think if you’re Donald Trump you do what the Secret Service tells you,” she said.
“Yeah, I would,” Maher agreed.
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo seconded Maher’s position, saying, “I think they all would.”
He added, “I think that they would do what the Secret Service said to do. Yes, it’s his decision, but you rarely go against what the Secret Service is advising.”
In fact, President Bill Clinton pulled a somewhat similar ruse in March 2000 during a trip to Pakistan, traveling apart from Air Force One and the press — but his administration briefed at least one reporter — Susan Page, the then-head of the White House Correspondents’ Association — beforehand, The Washington Post reported this week.
Maher was not as pleased with Trump when it came to the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is deployed in the Arabian Sea and has seen that deployment extended beyond its original May stop date. The vessel has been at sea more than 250 days and reports have suggested supply issues, lacking conditions, and mental health crises.
“I’ve used this phrase before, but Republicans, they have this patriotic immunity. They can do things that are so unpatriotic and they don’t seem to pay a price for it the way a Democrat would,” Maher said.
The post Bill Maher Defends Trump Using Press and Officials as Decoys in AF1 Switch: ‘I’m Not Judging Here’ first appeared on Mediaite.
