President Trump’s Secret Flight

In early December, President Trump made a trip to Turkey for a NATO summit that seemed routine enough—he flew in on a new Air Force One model donated by Cutter and was expected to leave on the older model. But a Washington Post story published this week revealed something far more dramatic: the president was never actually on that plane. According to the report, Trump was secretly evacuated from Air Force One via a catering cart and moved to a third aircraft, all because of an assassination threat linked to tensions with Iran. The press pool, the service members on board, and the public had no idea until now.

The Catering Cart Escape

The operation unfolded on the day Trump was scheduled to depart Turkey. That morning, the president posted on social media that he would fly the old Air Force One to an air base in the UK so service members could tour the new Cutter plane. The press pool boarded the old plane, expecting Trump to be with them. But as ABC's Catherine Falders explained, something unusual happened on the tarmac. The president climbed the stairs of the aircraft in full view of reporters, but then, instead of taking his seat, he walked straight through the plane to the opposite side and entered a catering container attached to a food truck. The cart descended, drove away, and any observer would have assumed it was just loading supp