US President Donald Trump’s recent plane switch in Turkey has made several headlines this past week. 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.”
However, as per reports, the intel regarding the threat from Iran was relayed in advance to the CIA by Israel. The agency, however, did not have confidence in the input received from the Israelis.
Trump switched between three aircraft during the NATO Summit in Turkey, which the president also 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, The Washington Post reported.
Iran threat intel “not compelling”
Citing former officials familiar with the matter, the Washington Post said 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. Officials added that while the threat was real, the CIA deemed the intel was “not compelling enough.”
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.
