Trump secretly flew from Turkey after Iranian threat, reports say

Donald Trump flew out of Turkey in a secret transfer after the NATO summit in Ankara, with officials moving him away from the newer Qatari-donated plane amid a credible threat from Iran and its proxies. The departure was kept out of view and ended with Trump on the older Air Force One for the flight to Britain.

The Secret Service asked that Trump not use the Qatari-donated jet when he left Ankara, a step that deepened questions about the aircraft’s retrofitting. The plane swap put the security decision at the center of an already unusual departure from a NATO summit host country.

The exit itself was carried out with an elaborate ruse. Trump and several aides reportedly stepped into an airport catering truck, which was then lifted to aircraft-door level so they could transfer without being seen to a smaller military plane. That aircraft then carried him out of Turkey, according to the account summarized in follow-up reports, as officials tried to reduce the risk of a missile or other attack from Iran-linked actors.

Trump later told reporters that the plane switch had nothing to do with security concerns. The White House did not frame the move as a public crisis, but the choice to keep him hidden inside ground equipment and move him to a different aircraft made clear how seriously officials took the threat.

The newer Qatari-donated jet was later slated for additional upgrades, extending scrutiny over the aircraft that had already drawn attention because of its retrofitting. The episode left an unusual record of a sitting American president leaving a NATO summit in secret, on a military aircraft, after security officials decided the safer move was to keep him out of sight until he was airborne.