Foreign Relations

Trump Secretly Switched Planes in Turkey Amid Iranian Assassination Threat

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Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of a man in a dark suit seen from behind walking across an airport apron toward the red-carpeted boarding staircase of a large red, white and blue jumbo jet, with a uniformed officer standing at attention beside the stairs.

President Donald Trump was secretly moved off Air Force One in an airport catering truck and flown out of Ankara on a smaller military jet on July 8, after officials identified a credible Iranian threat against him. Trump had boarded the legacy Boeing 747 in view of television cameras, then slipped out a rear door to a C-32A flying as Reach 18. The jumbo jet flew on to Britain as a decoy with reporters aboard, landing minutes after the president. White House communications director Steven Cheung said the administration uses every tool at its disposal, including distraction and misdirection. The switch came a day after renewed American strikes on Iran.

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