Trump Confronted on Cowardly Air Force One Bait and Switch
President Donald Trump has been confronted over the cowardly Air Force One decoy trick that saw him transported in a catering van to a secret plane.
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A covert Secret Service operation in July saw Trump fly on a secret plane, rather than Air Force One, after an Iranian assassination threat, an operation which was revealed this week by the Washington Post.
The clandestine operation happened unbeknownst to journalists and even White House staffers, who were aboard the former Air Force One. Trump raised eyebrows after announcing the switch from the newer, Qatar-gifted Boeing at the last minute on Truth Social at the time.
Those on board the former Air Force One believed that they were on the same flight as the president.
After his catering van journey, Trump boarded an Air Force C-32A aircraft in secret, with only a handful of people aware of the change.
Kaitlan Collins documented the bait and switch on Monday’s The Source on CNN, showing footage of the catering truck parked next to Air Force One, then driving away.
Trump, 80, was asked about the operation at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Tuesday after returning from the Patriot Games in Ohio.
“I have a lot of threats that you don’t know about,” Trump told the media. “Any consequential president has a lot of threats. Non-consequential presidents don’t get threatened—and I think that I’m maybe the most consequential president.”
Trump also claimed, “I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk. I think it was at greater risk, because that would be the plane they would be more likely to go for.”
The president added, “I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, ah, equal safety, but they wanted me to do it. I do what they say.”
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“I guess there was a threat out there,” he continued. “I didn’t really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Speaking on The Source on Monday, CNN’s Chief Political Analyst David Axelrod—who flew on Air Force One while working as a strategist for President Barack Obama—said he was shocked that people were put in danger.
“Everyone on that plane was, in fact, a decoy,” he said. “If they felt it was unsafe for the president to be on the plane, then it was unsafe for everybody else to be on the plane as well. So they at least deserved to know—if not then, then afterward—why this was happening.”
Barbara Starr, former CNN Pentagon reporter, appeared on The Source on Tuesday to discuss the White House’s secrecy around the mission.
“Truth is paramount,” Starr said. “Don’t lie about it. This is history. And I think this is where the administration has gone wrong.”
Noting that the president needed to be protected, Starr said a few things remained “highly problematic.”
“If it was not safe for the president to be on that flight, how was it safe for the media to be on that flight? And to be lied to, not to be told the truth. Yet again, to be lied to.”
Noting that the U.S. military were flying Air Force One, Starr said they do not put civilians “unknowingly” at risk.
“The president was gone, he wasn’t being threatened anymore, presumably, but the civilians on board were still under threat, and the U.S. military, under orders, flew that plane,” she said. “Somebody needs to tell me why that’s a legal order, because it’s not what the U.S. military does. “
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