{"id":42294,"date":"2026-08-13T03:45:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=42294"},"modified":"2026-08-13T03:45:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:45:44","slug":"trumps-secret-plane-switch-took-place-within-a-day-of-credible-iranian-missile-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=42294","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s secret plane switch took place within a day of credible Iranian missile threat"},"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 id=\"\">\n<p><em>Washington<\/em> \u2014 Last month&#8217;s elaborate ruse that saw President Trump <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/trump-secretly-switched-plane-turkey-air-force-one-iran-war-threat\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">secretly move from Air Force One<\/a><\/span> to another plane by way of a catering truck took place within a day of U.S. and Turkish intelligence picking up on an Iranian plot to fire a missile at the presidential jet, CBS News has learned.<\/p>\n<p>The decision to shift Mr. Trump to a different plane was made while the annual NATO conference was underway in Ankara, according to two law enforcement officials and a U.S. official. The president had flown into the Turkish capital on a newly retrofitted Boeing 747 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/trump-air-force-one-new-plane-qatar\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">donated<\/a> by the government of Qatar, but an older <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/trump-air-force-one-maxed-out-security-capabilities-qatar\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">white-and-blue jet<\/a> that has served as Air Force One since the 1990s was also on the ground as a support aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of Mr. Trump&#8217;s July 8 departure from the summit, the National Security Agency, the CIA and Turkey&#8217;s MIT intelligence service picked up streams of information about a credible plot by Iran to fire a surface-to-air missile at Air Force One, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There were also reports of a team in Turkey tasked with firing the surface-to-air missile at the plane, the U.S. officials said. But after more probes, no team was detected.<\/p>\n<p>As the U.S.-Iran war nears the six-month mark, there is a significant ongoing threat from Iran to kill Mr. Trump, according to the officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The president \u2014 who has faced multiple attempts on his life in recent years \u2014 has acknowledged the risk, calling himself &#8220;number one on the kill list for Iran&#8221; in a news conference shortly before leaving Ankara.<\/p>\n<p>The National Security Council, the White House Military Office and the Secret Service made the decision to change planes, two law enforcement officials and a U.S. official said. The decision was coordinated with officials in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>Before Mr. Trump departed Ankara, he said on Truth Social that he would take the older Air Force One over the newer Qatari jet for &#8220;old time&#8217;s sake.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Press footage captured him arriving at the airport and climbing up the stairs of the old Air Force One. Then, a few minutes later, an airport catering truck can be seen backing away from the plane and driving off to a U.S. Air Force-operated C-32A jet.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed__float-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"embed embed--type-image is-image embed--float-none embed--size-medium\" data-ads=\"{\" extrawordcount=\"\">\n<p>      <span class=\"img embed__content \"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/08\/11\/64114d86-f42b-4baa-ab20-2426d679bf14\/thumbnail\/620x413\/3b4dd092146a42a1df8d27e3a23d082b\/gettyimages-2284660204.jpg#\" alt=\"Air Force One parked on the tarmac in Ankara, Turkey, before Trump's departure \" height=\"413\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/08\/11\/64114d86-f42b-4baa-ab20-2426d679bf14\/thumbnail\/620x413\/3b4dd092146a42a1df8d27e3a23d082b\/gettyimages-2284660204.jpg 1x, https:\/\/assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/08\/11\/64114d86-f42b-4baa-ab20-2426d679bf14\/thumbnail\/1240x826\/d1cf3f8c95b8f1fae5cd9b7dc61e2760\/gettyimages-2284660204.jpg 2x\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/span><figcaption class=\"embed__caption-container\">\n<p>                  <span class=\"embed__caption\">A catering truck is parked alongside the old Air Force One plane on the tarmac prior to departure from Ankara Esenboga Airport in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, 2026, after a NATO summit attended by President Trump.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>                  <span class=\"embed__credit\"><\/p>\n<p>                SAUL LOEB \/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>                          <\/span><br \/>\n              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Mr. Trump was inside the catering truck, along with White House aides Natalie Harp, Walt Nauta and Dan Scavino, people familiar with the matter <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/trump-secret-flight-turkey-pete-hegseth-marco-rubio-scott-bessent\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">previously told CBS News<\/a><\/span>. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also joined them on board the C-32A before it flew from Turkey to a U.K. military base.<\/p>\n<p>The plane that was publicly identified as Air Force One flew along the same route, carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, several other top-level White House aides and members of the press corps. <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/trump-secret-flight-turkey-pete-hegseth-marco-rubio-scott-bessent\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Rubio and Bessent<\/a><\/span> were aware that the plane wasn&#8217;t carrying the president, sources said, but the reporters and some White House staff were not.<\/p>\n<p>While in the United Kingdom, Mr. Trump shifted to the new, Qatari-donated Air Force One for the second leg of his trip back to D.C.<\/p>\n<p>The use of a decoy aircraft remained a secret until earlier this week, when The Washington Post, CBS News and other outlets reported on the move.<\/p>\n<p>Law enforcement officials told CBS News the switch was part of a misdirection effort, but said it was not intended to put certain individuals at greater risk.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Trump addressed the decision on Tuesday, telling CBS News&#8217; Nancy Cordes the military and Secret Service &#8220;wanted me to go in a different flight&#8221; due to threats.<\/p>\n<p>Asked why it was too dangerous for him to fly on Air Force One, but not reporters or his staff, Mr. Trump said: &#8220;I think, actually, the plane that I flew on was at greater risk.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The president told reporters he was not surprised or worried.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have a lot of threats,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Any consequential president has a lot of threats.&#8221;<\/p>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n<p class=\"content__meta--contributors\">\n<p>                                  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/sara-cook\/\" class=\"byline__author__link\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Sara  Cook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>        contributed to this report.\n    <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p>  <!-- data-recirc-source=\"chartbeat\" --><\/p>\n<aside class=\"component list recirculation component--type-recirculation  component--type-recirculation-collection\">\n<div class=\"component__item-recirc-block\">\n<p><h3 class=\"component__title\">Go deeper with The Free Press<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n      <!-- tags --><br \/>\n    <\/section>\n<\/p><\/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>Washington \u2014 Last month&#8217;s elaborate ruse that saw President Trump secretly move from Air Force One to another plane by way of a catering truck took place within a day of U.S. and Turkish intelligence picking up on an Iranian plot to fire a missile at the presidential jet, CBS News has learned. The decision&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/08\/11\/64114d86-f42b-4baa-ab20-2426d679bf14\/thumbnail\/1200x630\/24ed284a0f9c97982259616d4d76407b\/gettyimages-2284660204.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42294","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\/42294","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=42294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}