{"id":39747,"date":"2026-08-12T01:36:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T20:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39747"},"modified":"2026-08-12T01:36:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T20:36:41","slug":"former-secret-service-agents-trumps-secret-plane-swap-unusual-not-unprecedented","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39747","title":{"rendered":"Former Secret Service Agents: Trump\u2019s Secret Plane Swap Unusual, Not Unprecedented"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-content\">\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-element\" class=\"rich-text mb-6 font-graphik text-body-large text-black-coffee mt-8 focus-visible:outline focus-visible:outline-black-coffee focus-visible:outline-2 focus-visible:outline-offset-2 focus-visible:shadow-focus-color text-left\">McDonald described the decision-making process around such operations<strong> <\/strong>as a joint effort among the Secret Service, the White House Military Office and White House staff, with &#8220;no one entity&#8221; holding more authority than the others.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-element\" class=\"rich-text mb-6 font-graphik text-body-large text-black-coffee mt-8 focus-visible:outline focus-visible:outline-black-coffee focus-visible:outline-2 focus-visible:outline-offset-2 focus-visible:shadow-focus-color text-left\">The Department of Defense has referred questions from TIME to the White House. TIME has reached out to the White House for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-element\" class=\"rich-text mb-6 font-graphik text-body-large text-black-coffee mt-8 focus-visible:outline focus-visible:outline-black-coffee focus-visible:outline-2 focus-visible:outline-offset-2 focus-visible:shadow-focus-color text-left\">McDonald pushed back on the idea that Air Force One and the people <strong>still <\/strong>aboard it, including journalists, were left exposed. \u201cI would find it incredibly hard to believe that those two planes weren&#8217;t escorted or with other assets from allies or the U.S. Air Force in the area,\u201d he said, adding that he doubted the people on the aircraft \u201cwere dangled out there and left to fend for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-element\" class=\"rich-text mb-6 font-graphik text-body-large text-black-coffee mt-8 focus-visible:outline focus-visible:outline-black-coffee focus-visible:outline-2 focus-visible:outline-offset-2 focus-visible:shadow-focus-color text-left\">The operation broke a White House tradition that presidents rarely travel without a group of reporters known as the White House pool, to ensure the public has an independent account of the president\u2019s activities. Former President Barack Obama <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2026\/08\/11\/trumps-plane-ruse-echoes-clintons-pakistan-swap-with-one-key-difference\/\" target=\"undefined\">broke<\/a> the tradition in 2010 by leaving the White House to attend his daughter\u2019s soccer game without telling reporters. <\/p>\n<p>In 2000, President Bill Clinton secretly switched to an unmarked plane for a trip to Pakistan. At least one member of the White House pool, a reporter covering the trip for <em>USA Today<\/em>, was briefed on the operation beforehand, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2026\/08\/11\/trumps-plane-ruse-echoes-clintons-pakistan-swap-with-one-key-difference\/\" target=\"undefined\">according to The Washington <em>Post<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>McDonald described the decision-making process around such operations as a joint effort among the Secret Service, the White House Military Office and White House staff, with &#8220;no one entity&#8221; holding more authority than the others. The Department of Defense has referred questions from TIME to the White House. TIME has reached out to the White&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/blt43b79dd58d7d82ff\/6a7b79aafc29c5b7fcafe853\/GettyImages-2284499620.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}