Donald Trump confirmed yesterday, Tuesday night that in early July he secretly changed planes due to a “threat” and assured that he was simply following the advice of his security detail.
“They wanted to put me on another flight, on another plane, with the same level of security; they wanted me to do it, so I did. I do whatever they tell me to do,” said the U.S. president.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
The Washington Post’s revelations about the security operation carried out on July 8 on the tarmac at Ankara Airport, in the face of the threat of an Iranian attack, raise questions about the U.S. president’s security, as well as the credibility of the threat against him and the White House’s communication.
That day, to leave the NATO summit in Turkey, the U.S. president was escorted to another plane via a supply vehicle, while Air Force One took off with a dozen journalists on board, who were convinced they were traveling with Donald Trump. Trump eventually boarded a different plane.
SEE ALSO: New round of Israel-Lebanon talks in early September
“I imagine there was a threat. I didn’t ask much more,” the president said last night when asked why he had his security detail, the Secret Service, advise him to take this action.
Donald Trump, in an apparent attempt to downplay the incident, stated that “I wasn’t surprised,” adding, “I am the target of many threats that you don’t know about.”
The issue, however, took on a political dimension: later yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for lawmakers to be “immediately briefed.” “It is unacceptable for Congress to be kept in the dark,” he stressed.
Supply Container
This return trip from Turkey was eventful from the start.
Donald Trump was scheduled to depart from Ankara for the United Kingdom on the same Boeing 747 he had arrived on, an aircraft that had been provided by Qatar and had undergone costly modifications.
However, security concerns had led the White House to change plans at the last minute and have him travel on the older plane, which was considered safer.
It was on this plane, then, that the U.S. president boarded, under the cameras and photographers’ lenses.
In a photo taken earlier by the French Press Agency, two refueling containers mounted on hydraulic mechanisms are clearly visible, one at the front of the plane and the other at the rear.
According to the American press, Donald Trump exited the plane through one of these containers to board another U.S. Air Force aircraft, a C-32A.
The Wall Street Journal cites a U.S. official, according to whom Israel informed the United States of a threat of an attack with a portable surface-to-air missile against the aircraft. The newspaper clarifies that high-ranking U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, were briefed on this.
Finistrina
The same was true for the twelve journalists, who were traveling in the rear of the plane, in a cabin that is not connected to the area reserved for the president at the front, and who were unaware of the operation—security had, in fact, asked them to lower the shades on the windows, something unusual outside of combat zones.
As soon as it arrived at the Mildenhall military base in eastern England, shortly before that decoy plane, the 80-year-old billionaire boarded it—again in secret and without the Washington Post finding out how.
He then descended the stairs in front of the reporters before immediately boarding, along with them, the plane provided by Qatar to return to the United States.
SOURCE: APE
