US President Donald Trump recently switched out planes during a summit in Turkey due to a “threat”. Trump had reportedly been seen switching between three aircraft, which the Republican leader confirmed later.
While he did not specify the threats, Trump stated he simply followed the advice he got from the Secret Service and the military.
Trump switched from the Qatar-gifted Boeing 747-8 to an older Air Force One, and then again made a secret switch to a smaller C-32A aircraft, reported The Washington Post.
Amid the buzz of Trump’s plane switch, it was widely reported that the US President was prompted to switch planes due to “a credible threat from Iranian proxies.”
Iran threat intel “not compelling”
According to a Washington Post report, the threat was real, but the Central Intelligence Agency deemed it”not compelling enough.”
Citing former officials familiar with the matter, the Washington Post added that it was Israel that relayed the threat to Trump’s life and called for the president to secretly fly out of the plane.
One of the officials added that while Israel had relayed its fear of an assassination attempt, CIA officials did not have much confidence in it.
Also Read | Trump hid in catering cart, secretly flew out of Turkiye on small plane amid Iran threat: Report
The reports of an Iranian threat were seen as “Israel-derived, not US-generated and viewed as low confidence,” said an official, adding that this view was also relayed to Trump’s team.
Despite the low confidence in the threat level, another US official said, referring to Trump’s previous assassination attempts, that the Secret Service did not want to take a chance.
“The Secret Service has had three near misses with this president, so they’re not taking any chances. They did what they had to do,” the official told Washington Post.
Trump’s secret shuffle in Turkey
Trump’s plane switch dates back to July 8, during the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey.
As reported by the Washington Post, the US President was on board the Boeing 747-8 gifted by Qatar, which, as per officials, has sufficient security measures to transport the US President out of a hostile environment.
Trump disembarked from the Qatari plane secretly and boarded a legacy Air Force One in Turkey. However, the US president then secretly left that aircraft and was shuttled to a third plane – Air Force C-32A, in an airport catering truck, which ultimately flew him to Britain.
As per the Post, the aircraft that ferried Trump to Britain’s Mildenhall air base was also escorted by F-16 fighter jets.