{"id":40639,"date":"2026-08-12T10:43:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T05:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=40639"},"modified":"2026-08-12T10:43:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T05:43:29","slug":"trump-says-security-threat-spurred-secret-plane-swap-in-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=40639","title":{"rendered":"Trump says security threat spurred secret plane swap in Turkey"},"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 xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p id=\"anchor-3958be\" class=\"body-graf\">President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday night that he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-secret-flight-turkey-iran-rcna591860\" target=\"_blank\">secretly switched planes<\/a> when he traveled back from Turkey in July, saying a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/warnings-possible-shoulder-fired-missile-led-trumps-secret-plane-swap-rcna591919\" target=\"_blank\">security threat <\/a>prompted the clandestine maneuver. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-6a3da7\" class=\"body-graf\">Trump told reporters that the \u201cSecret Service and the military\u201d made the decision. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c0af07\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThey wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane,\u201d he said. \u201cI guess there was a threat out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-610298\" class=\"body-graf\">NBC News previously confirmed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2026\/08\/10\/trump-flew-secrecy-amid-iran-threat-air-force-one-became-decoy\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Washington Post<\/a>\u2019s reporting that Trump surreptitiously moved to an unmarked jet using a catering truck on July 8 after having boarded Air Force One in front of cameras. He flew on the jet from Ankara to a base in the United Kingdom, while reporters and White House staff members believed he was on board Air Force One.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-166560\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cI think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk. I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for,\u201d Trump said Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-fe32cb\" class=\"body-graf\">He did not elaborate on why the unmarked C-32 jet he boarded, whose <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/thenewarea51\/status\/2074968630421254400\" target=\"_blank\">call sign was not marked as Air Force One<\/a>, made it a likelier target.<\/p>\n<section class=\"inline-video inline-video--in-body\" data-testid=\"inline-video\" id=\"anchor-d6d840\">\n<div class=\"inline-video__background\">\n<div class=\"inline-video__player\">\n<div class=\"styles_gridStackWrapper__Z_AMc styles_videoContainer___xc7B video-container paused\" data-testid=\"gamma-video-player\">\n<div class=\"styles_gridStackWrapper__Z_AMc videoSlate styles_videoSlate__IvkAP\"><picture class=\"\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"focal\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1240px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-860x484,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2026_08\/1786489322442_nn_gha_trump_plane_swap_260811_S3_1920x1080-2hgz6h.jpg\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 758px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-1000x563,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2026_08\/1786489322442_nn_gha_trump_plane_swap_260811_S3_1920x1080-2hgz6h.jpg\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-760x428,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2026_08\/1786489322442_nn_gha_trump_plane_swap_260811_S3_1920x1080-2hgz6h.jpg\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-760x428,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2026_08\/1786489322442_nn_gha_trump_plane_swap_260811_S3_1920x1080-2hgz6h.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p id=\"anchor-bec29a\" class=\"body-graf\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/warnings-possible-shoulder-fired-missile-led-trumps-secret-plane-swap-rcna591919\" target=\"_blank\">NBC News<\/a> also reported that the plane switch came, according to a U.S. official, amid a fresh Iranian plot to kill Trump, possibly involving a shoulder-fired missile aimed at Air Force One as it departed Turkey. Those left behind on the decoy plane included members of the media and senior White House staff members, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who are in the presidential line of succession. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-fea054\" class=\"body-graf\">Trump said he \u201cdidn\u2019t really ask so much\u201d about the threat, but he said he was \u201cnot surprised\u201d there had been one.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-fb0e74\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cAny consequential president has a lot of threats. Nonconsequential presidents don\u2019t get threatened, and I think that I may be the most consequential president,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-cd6e28\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">Congressional Democrats are demanding a briefing from officials on the specifics of Trump\u2019s flight last month and any security threats that surrounded it.<\/p>\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>President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday night that he secretly switched planes when he traveled back from Turkey in July, saying a security threat prompted the clandestine maneuver. Trump told reporters that the \u201cSecret Service and the military\u201d made the decision. \u201cThey wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane,\u201d he said. \u201cI&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260811-president-trump-vsb-2208-e555fc.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40639","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=40639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}