Trump Says Secret Service Had Him Switch Planes in Turkey Over Threat

President Donald Trump said on Aug. 11 that the Secret Service had him switch from Air Force One to a military aircraft when leaving Ankara, Turkey, last month due to a security threat.

Trump was departing Turkey on July 8 after concluding a two-day NATO summit when the Secret Service identified a potential security threat. The president did not elaborate on the nature or origin of the threat.

“It’s only up to secret service. I just follow what they’d like to do. So, I go by secret service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane,” he told reporters on Aug. 11.

“I guess there was a threat out there. I didn’t really ask too much about it.”

The president traveled to Turkey on July 7 aboard the new Air Force One, a Boeing 747-8 luxury jet that was gifted to the federal government by the Qatari government last year, but changed to an older Air Force One for his departure.

White House communications director Steven Cheung said on July 9 that the plane change was part of a “distraction and misdirection” strategy intended to address threats against the president.

Cheung said the president faces threats from “many enemies of America” and the government would use “every tool at our disposal” to counter those threats.

Trump told reporters at the NATO summit on July 8 that he was Iran’s top target after a ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran collapsed last month.

The two nations signed a preliminary agreement in June to halt the war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. After Iran attacked three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Trump declared the ceasefire over on July 7 and ordered strikes. Iran’s armed forces retaliated by attacking Middle Eastern nations hosting U.S. military assets.

In a July 11 Truth Social post, Trump said he had ordered the U.S. military to take action if the Iranian regime were to assassinate him, warning that 1,000 missiles were “locked and loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow” if he were attacked.

“Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one-year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran,” he wrote.

The warning came as Iran on July 10 buried slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a U.S.–Israeli airstrike aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear weapons on Feb. 28, sparking a months-long conflict that disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz as Iran retaliated.

The ayatollah’s son Mojtaba Khamenei, was later named his successor by the Iranian Assembly and has vowed to avenge his father’s death.

Timothy Frudd contributed to this report.