Last month, while cameras and reporters watched a plane take off carrying his name, Trump was actually leaving Turkey through an airport catering vehicle.
The Washington Post first reported the operation, and both the New York Times and CBS have since confirmed it. Trump had arrived in Ankara for the NATO summit aboard the newly refurbished Boeing 747-8 gifted by Qatar, marking that aircraft’s first international trip in presidential service.
Intelligence officials flagged a specific threat as the U.S.-Iran standoff worsened during the summit itself, assessing it as credible that Iran or an aligned group might attempt to target Trump’s plane as he left the country.
What came next stayed hidden even from people inside Trump’s own delegation.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
The Post described it as a mission “carried out unbeknownst to journalists and some White House staff members.” Trump had already given the public an explanation for switching planes, posting on Truth Social that he wanted to fly the older, “powder-blue” Air Force One “for old time’s sake.” That line, delivered in public, turned out to be cover for something else entirely.
The real sequence involved three aircraft, not two.
Trump boarded the legacy Air Force One in full view, exactly as expected. He then slipped out through the catering vehicle and moved to a separate military aircraft, a C-32A flying under the callsign “Reach 18,” with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveling alongside him. The Qatari 747 had already departed separately for RAF Mildenhall in England.
Back on the tarmac, the legacy Air Force One, the plane everyone believed Trump was on, took off as planned.
One U.S. official described that flight to the Post in a single word: a “decoy.” It continued showing up on public flight trackers under the standard AF1 callsign the entire time, even though the president wasn’t aboard.
The cover story held even after landing.
The White House described Trump’s arrival in Britain as though he’d flown there on that same aircraft, posting that he had touched down “aboard the former Air Force One.”
Asked about the operation, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung didn’t deny it happened. He described the administration’s approach as using “every tool at our disposal — including distraction and misdirection” to respond to threats against Trump, while also defending the Qatari plane’s own security features as sufficient.
This wouldn’t be the first time Trump’s protective detail has leaned on a decoy aircraft.
During the 2024 campaign, following the assassination attempt at his Florida golf club, his security team quietly placed him on a plane belonging to ally Steve Witkoff. The rest of the traveling staff flew separately on his usual jet, unaware he wasn’t actually on it until after takeoff, according to an account from Axios reporter Alex Isenstadt’s forthcoming book.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
