Video footage may have captured the moment former President Donald Trump secretly switched planes in Turkey last month due to a reported security threat. The change of aircraft was not disclosed to the press accompanying him, and reportedly not even to some of his staff.
John Hudson, a reporter for The Washington Post, shared footage on X that appears to show the sequence of events. Trump had arrived in Turkey for a NATO summit aboard a newly outfitted Air Force One, a gift from Qatar. Shortly before his departure, however, he announced that this aircraft would be sent on to the United Kingdom, while he would travel on an older Air Force One.
According to The Post, Trump boarded the older aircraft from the front. However, he almost immediately proceeded to a catering truck container that had been elevated on the opposite side of the plane. Concealed within this container, Trump was then transported to a waiting U.S. military C-32A aircraft.
The press corps remained on the older Air Force One, unaware that the president had already departed via a different plane. The report indicates that even many members of his staff were not informed of the switch.
All three aircraft reportedly arrived in the United Kingdom. Once there, Trump again made a clandestine change, returning to the older Air Force One and disembarking as if he had been on that plane for the entire duration of the flight from Turkey.