Trump confirms Secret Service wanted him off Air Force One, claims plane faced ‘greater risk’
3 min readAug 12, 2026 08:45 AM IST
US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday (Aug 12) that he secretly took a military flight from Turkey last month because Air Force One was “at greater risk.”
He stated that the switch occurred at the request of the Secret Service amid reported threats.
“It’s only up to the Secret Service. I just follow what they’d like to do. I go by the Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I did it. I do what they say,” Trump told reporters after The Washington Post broke the story about his switch from the presidential plane.
“I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” he said, confirming the potential threat. “I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for.”
#WATCH | US President Donald J Trump says, “It’s only up to the Secret Service. I just follow what they’d like to do. I go by the Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I did… https://t.co/g7GCshkcAq pic.twitter.com/IM8Ful4OaS
— ANI (@ANI) August 12, 2026
POTUS moved between aircraft in catering truck
Trump, who had travelled to Ankara for a NATO summit, sneaked off the Air Force One after the United States detected a credible Iranian threat to fire a missile at the plane.
The operation, described by a US official as a “deception operation,” involved shuttling the Republican leader across the tarmac in an airport catering truck to an unmarked aircraft, according to The Washington Post.
The smaller plane that he was moved to was an Air Force C-32A.
The US president’s actual location was concealed from journalists travelling with him and even from certain White House staff.
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Reporters travelling on what they believed was Trump’s flight were instructed to keep the window shades in the press cabin closed. When asked about this later, Trump explained it was because they were “probably on a dangerous flight,” adding, “But if I go, you go. Right?”
This was also the first international trip for a newly renovated Air Force One, a Boeing 747-8 gifted by Qatar, whose fast-tracked upgrades had already raised questions regarding cost and security.
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