Every President serves with the risk of assassination. President Trump, however, seems to have weathered a few more attempts that usual. The Secret Service is doing their job, and recently in Turkey the Secret Service did something out of a James Bond movie.
On August 11, The New York Post reported:
New details are emerging about President Trump’s great escape from Ankara last month with the revelation that he was smuggled off Air Force One by a Turkish airport catering truck to board a different military jet.
Trump’s exit from the annual NATO conference — within reach of Iranian missiles — already stoked weeks of intrigue over his purported use of an older version of Air Force One instead of the luxurious Qatar-gifted aircraft on which he arrived.
Trump actually used a third plane in an elaborate ruse that fooled not only Iran, but also the traveling press pool and some members of the president’s own staff.
…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.
The fresh reporting raised new questions, including whether there was a specific threat to Trump’s life, rather than a vague concern involving the Iran conflict.
The White House has not denied the Washington Post’s account, which cited two sources, including at least one US official.
The article concludes:
Hours before his stealth relocation to the third plane, Trump spoke about Iranian leaders wanting to kill him. That week, funeral processions for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei featured banners threatening to kill the US president.
When a New York 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.”
The deception — and its revelation — are incredibly rare if not unprecedented.
Then-President Bill Clinton similarly used Air Force One as a decoy in 2000 during a high-risk trip to Pakistan, but at least some reporters were aware ahead of time and the ploy was revealed publicly upon arrival.
Notice he left the reporters on the original plane. Hmmm.