--- title: Trump Breaks Silence on Secret Plane Switch in Turkey Over Iranian Threat description: "I guess there was a threat out there. I didn't really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats," Trump told reporters. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/trump-plane-switch-turkey-iranian-threat-secret-service-decoy/ author: Tiago Ventura article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-08-12T12:35:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-12T15:37:13.524Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Breaks Silence on Secret Plane Switch in Turkey Over Possible Iranian Threat og:description: "I guess there was a threat out there. I didn't really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats," Trump told reporters. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/trump-plane-switch-turkey-iranian-threat-secret-service-decoy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb764b8ea7af33789/6a7c54d156fcaa29bd42f9d9/Trump_Plane.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Trump_Plane.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Breaks Silence on Secret Plane Switch in Turkey Over Possible Iranian Threat twitter:description: "I guess there was a threat out there. I didn't really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats," Trump told reporters. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb764b8ea7af33789/6a7c54d156fcaa29bd42f9d9/Trump_Plane.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Breaks Silence on Secret Plane Switch in Turkey Over Possible Iranian Threat > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he slipped away from Air Force One after a recent summit in Turkey because the Secret Service and military wanted him on a “different plane” due to a threat._  by [Tiago Ventura](https://time.com/author/tiago-ventura/)  ## Tiago Ventura Aug 12, 2026 12:35 PM UTC President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he slipped away from Air Force One after a recent summit in Turkey because the Secret Service and military wanted him on a “different plane” due to a threat.  by [Tiago Ventura](https://time.com/author/tiago-ventura/)  ## Tiago Ventura Aug 12, 2026 12:35 PM UTC President Donald Trump has confirmed he secretly switched planes when leaving the NATO summit in Turkey last month in an effort to evade a possible[ Iranian threat](https://time.com/article/2026/08/10/iran-us-strait-of-hormuz-conditions-trump-negotiations/). “It's only up to the Secret Service. I just follow what they'd like to do, so I go by Secret Service and the military,” Trump [told](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj0msH9OmLo) reporters late Tuesday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. “They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I do it, I do what they say." When asked about the nature of the “threat,” Trump acknowledged there had been one but said he “didn’t really ask too much about it,” adding that he receives “a lot of threats.” The Washington _Post_ first [reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/08/10/trump-flew-secrecy-amid-iran-threat-air-force-one-became-decoy/) Monday that when Trump left Ankara, Turkey, on July 8 and headed to England, he boarded Air Force One in front of the media, before being transferred to a military aircraft via a catering truck in an effort to conceal his exact whereabouts. Several other outlets also carried the story citing unnamed U.S. officials as sources. Video[ footage of the scene](https://www.facebook.com/CBSNews/videos/video-shows-the-airport-catering-truck-used-in-a-secret-operation-to-move-presid/1556008959336014/) shows a Turkish airport catering truck, understood to be sheltering Trump inside, pulling away from Air Force One. Journalists, alongside some White House staffers, traveled on Air Force One and were reportedly unaware of the President no longer being onboard. The operation has come under scrutiny, [sparking questions](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/11/trump-air-force-one-deception-democrats) as to whether those left on the decoy plane presumed to still be carrying the President were at risk. "I think actually the ​plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” Trump told reporters late Tuesday. ”Because that would be the plane, I think, that they would be more likely to go for." Robert McDonald, who spent 21 years with the Secret Service, also pushed back on the idea that Air Force One and the people stillaboard it may have been left exposed. “I would find it incredibly hard to believe that those two planes weren't escorted or with other assets from allies or the U.S. Air Force in the area,”[ he told TIME](https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/trump-secret-plane-swap-Turkey-UK-Secret-Service-Air-Force-One/), adding that he doubted the people on the aircraft “were dangled out there and left to fend for themselves.”  Air Force One sits on the tarmac with an airport catering container adjacent to the body of the aircraft in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, 2026. Win McNamee—Getty Images Prior to leaving the summit on July 8, Trump had[ posted on social media](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116884409163416775) that, for “old time’s sake,” he would fly out of Turkey on the older Air Force One instead of the newer,[ controversial Qatari-gifted](https://time.com/article/2026/07/20/trump-air-force-one-qatar-controversy-security-questions/) aircraft, which had made its first international trip to the NATO event. “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,” he said. When asked during a NATO press briefing why he wasn’t flying the new plane home, the President [told](https://youtu.be/9JYvcEVlu3s?t=2020) reporters that the aircraft was being flown to a U.S. base to give service members a chance to see it. In reality, the clandestine operation meant that, for a portion of time, the President’s real whereabouts were seemingly unknown to—and concealed from—the White House press pool.  Former President Bill Clinton disembarks a jet at Islamabad International Airport in March 2000. Stephen Jaffe—Getty Images ### Trump isn't the only President to execute a decoy mission Although rare, a decoy maneuver such as this is not unheard of when it comes to presidential travel. A similar episode occurred in March 2000, when former President Bill Clinton secretly switched to a decoy jet, with all of the markings of Air Force One, as he traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan for a[ visit marked](https://www.upi.com/Archives/2000/03/25/Clinton-arrives-in-Pakistan-amid-ultra-tight-security/8860953960400/) by extraordinary security. The switch was revealed when a Secret Service agent resembling Clinton stepped out of Air Force One upon touching down in Pakistan, while Clinton disembarked from the second aircraft. However, at least [one member](https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/08/11/donald-trump-bill-clinton-switched-air-force-one-security/91254069007/) of the White House pool was aware of the ruse: Susan Page, then-president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, who was covering the trip for USA TODAY. Page this week broke her 26-year silence on the briefing that preceded the secret switch. “They told me about the extraordinary security procedures being taken because of the dangers in flying there, including use of the decoy plane,” she [told](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/11/trumps-plane-ruse-echoes-clintons-pakistan-swap-with-one-key-difference/) the _Post_. “Of course, the dangers threatened the journalists covering the trip as well as President Clinton.” On why she chose to share her experience all these years later, Page explained: “I haven’t spoken about this episode before, because of the off-the-record ground rules of that discussion. But since more than a quarter-century has passed—and since the ruse became evident as soon as President Clinton disembarked in Pakistan—I think it’s OK for me to relay it now.” ## Transcript [00:00] So I go by Secret Service and the military. [00:04] They wanted me to go in [00:05] a different flight, a different plane. [00:07] Uh, equal safety. [00:09] But they wanted me to do it. [00:10] So I do it. I do what they say. [00:12] Why do they want you to do that? [00:14] I guess there was a threat out there. [00:17] I didn't really ask too much about it. [00:18] I get a lot of threats. [00:20] This one went over to England [00:21] because the soldiers wanted to see it, [00:23] and it stopped, and they showed it to the soldiers. [00:26] And we did a switch over there [00:28] and it was really as per the military. [00:30] And I just have to do what they say. [00:32] They go for safety and I have to do what they say. [00:35] Are you surprised, Mr. President, [00:37] that the Secret Service is telling you to [00:39] take that first plane? No. [00:42] Not surprised. I have a lot of threats. [00:44] I have a lot of threats that you don't know about. [00:47] Any consequential president has a lot of threats. [00:50] Non-consequential presidents don't get threatened. [00:54] And I think that I [00:56] may be the most consequential president. [00:58] Were you worried about a shoulder fired missile? Uh. [01:02] I don't worry about anything, to be honest. [01:04] Whatever it is, you know, my attitude, whatever. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/trump-plane-switch-turkey-iranian-threat-secret-service-decoy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/trump-plane-switch-turkey-iranian-threat-secret-service-decoy/"},"headline":"Trump Breaks Silence on Secret Plane Switch in Turkey Over Possible Iranian Threat","datePublished":"2026-08-12T12:35:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-12T15:37:13.524Z","description":"\"I guess there was a threat out there. I didn't really ask too much about it. 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