WASHINGTON — President Trump’s secret ride inside an Turkish airport catering truck to board a military jet appears to have been captured on video last month — the climax of a stunning plane swap carried out while journalists and even some White House staffers sat unaware on Air Force One.
The footage shows a catering truck with a raised box bed — typically used for loading meals — positioned with its dock raised on the far side of Air Force One as Trump boarded the presidential plane in Ankara July 8 following the annual conference of NATO heads of state, after spending the day repeatedly mentioning Iran’s interest in killing him.
As the White House press pool boarded Air Force One moments later, the catering truck, now with its bed lowered, backed away from the jet and drove virtually unnoticed to a nearby military C-32A plane, which the Washington Post reported carried Trump to the United Kingdom.
The White House has not denied the Washington Post’s account, which cited two sources including at least one US official.
Trump had announced earlier in the day he would be taking the original Air Force One out of Turkey and sending his new jet — newly donated from Qatar — on ahead to RAF Mildenhall to allow US forces stationed there to tour it before he used the plane to travel back to Washington.
It’s unclear which other officials joined Trump in the truck, though he’s typically accompanied by a doctor and staffers designated to maintain contact with the military and White House chief of staff’s office.
Back on board Air Force One, pool reporters were instructed to keep their window shades closed at the request of the Secret Service. A dispatch indicates that one photographer opened their shade and was quickly instructed to close it again.
The deception stunned Washington veterans. Although then-President Bill Clinton similarly used Air Force One as a decoy in 2000 during a high-risk trip to Pakistan, he did not ditch reporters aboard the plane that was deemed to be higher-risk.
The publicly stated plan to use the older Air Force One was believed to be motivated by a lack of advanced security features on the newer craft, while the senior presidential plane has technology to deflect incoming missiles.
When a Post reporter asked Trump at a news conference in Ankara whether he was ditching the new plane due to threats from Iran, the president responded that “I’m number one on the kill list” for the Islamic Republic, but declined to elaborate further.
When another journalist pressed Trump on his publicly stated plane swap, the president insisted he sent the Qatari jet out of Turkey “so the soldiers can see it, because it’s truly magnificent.”
