The establishment media melted down after reports surfaced Monday that President Donald Trump departed Turkey on a secret flight last month due to a “credible threat” from Iran while reporters were left on Air Force One thinking they were flying with the president.
The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, released a report detailing that a catering truck secretly moved the president from the legacy 747-200B Air Force One on the tarmac in Ankara to a C-32A after leaving the NATO summit on July 8. The reported secret transport of the president came after reporters documented him board — and as they themselves boarded — the legacy plane.
As the Post reported:
A credible threat to Trump involving Iran set the “deception operation” in motion, the U.S. official said. The New York Times and CBS News reported last month that intelligence officials flagged a specific threat of an attack on the president or his jet, triggering additional precautions.
In a White House press pool report at take-off from Ankara, Politico reporter Megan Messerly advised that reporters traveling were instructed to keep their window shades closed. The C-32A reportedly carrying Trump was flown to Mildenhall Air Force Base in the United Kingdom with the call sign “Reach 18,” without tracking systems on, while the 747-200B went by the “AF1” or Air Force One call sign at one point after no call sign was used for part of the flight, per the Post. “AF1” is typically the call sign for a flight the president is on, regardless of the plane. In theory, if the president were aboard a Cessna and it was publicly known, it would have the “AF1” call sign.
Trump had arrived in Turkey for the NATO summit on July 7 via the bridge 747-8 Air Force One, which Qatar gifted the United States. Hours before departing on July 8, he took to Truth Social to announce he would depart the country via the legacy Air Force One for “old time’s sake,” and said the bridge plane would be flown without him to Mildenhall Air Force Base so servicemembers there could tour it.
“To honor our brave men and women of the Military, we are sending the brand new, and truly spectacular, Air Force One to Mildenhall Air Force Base, in the United Kingdom, to give them a chance to tour the Aircraft — Everybody is so excited, and we thought that they should be the first,” he wrote.
“For old time’s sake, we’ll be taking the former Air Force One, from Turkey to Mildenhall, a short trip that is totally worth doing in order to give our Great Military Heroes a chance to appreciate our beautiful new addition to the Air Force Fleet!” he added.
The Washington Post reports that Trump arrived in the United Kingdom on the first leg of his return voyage to the United States before reporters and staff, with the C-32A reaching Mildenhall at 10:20 p.m. — nine minutes before the legacy Air Force One landed at 10:29 p.m. The Qatar-gifted 747-8 had arrived at 6:26 p.m.
When at Mildenhall after reportedly taking the secret flight, he was seen disembarking the 747-200B he had reportedly snuck off of.
“It’s not clear how Trump moved from the C-32A to the legacy Air Force One after landing, but he appeared before television cameras and descended external stairs from the legacy Air Force One about 10:56 p.m., according to a media pool report,” the Post reported.
From there, he boarded the 747-8 for the leg home to Joint Base Andrews.
“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the Post in a statement. “As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.”
Members of the media expressed outrage that the reporters were allegedly unwittingly left aboard a potentially dangerous flight under the assumption they were flying with the president.
“It was kind of stunning to think that all those on the plane were essentially a decoy,” CNN’s David Axelrod said on CNN’s The Source on Monday night. “They were not told that the president was not on board, and the deception continued even after he had safely returned to Washington. That’s hard for me to understand.”
Former CNN reporter Barbara Starr wondered whether it was safe for journalists to fly aboard the legacy plane.
CNN’s Jake Tapper shared a similar sentiment.
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