Former President Donald Trump has broken his silence on a secret decoy plane maneuver he employed during a trip to Turkey in 2019, citing concerns over potential threats. Trump, who frequently receives threats, indicated that he did not inquire deeply into the specific nature of the danger.
"I guess there was a threat out there. I didn't really ask too much about it," Trump told reporters. "I get a lot of threats."
The use of a decoy aircraft, while uncommon, is not unprecedented for presidential travel. A similar tactic was employed in March 2000, when then-President Bill Clinton traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan. Clinton also switched to a decoy jet, designed to resemble Air Force One, for security reasons.
Upon landing in Pakistan, a Secret Service agent who bore a resemblance to Clinton disembarked from the primary aircraft, while Clinton himself exited the decoy plane. At the time, Susan Page, then president of the White House Correspondents' Association and a reporter for USA TODAY, was among the few aware of the ruse. She revealed that she had been briefed on the extraordinary security measures, including the decoy plane, due to the perceived dangers of flying to the region.
"They told me about the extraordinary security procedures being taken because of the dangers in flying there, including use of the decoy plane," Page told The Washington Post this week, breaking her 26-year silence on the matter. "Of course, the dangers threatened the journalists covering the trip as well as President Clinton."