Trump smuggled out of Air Force 1 in food cart to military jet in Turkey to evade threat: Report

New York: US President Donald Trump was put in a food truck after he boarded Air Force 1 in Turkey and smuggled to a military jet to take him to Britain because of “credible threats” against his official plane, according to media reports.

After he publicly boarded the Air Force 1 in Ankara under the glare of the media last month, he and some key aides got into a catering truck that had been raised to the level of the plane, The Washington Post reported Monday.

He was moved to a car from the food truck, which “had been fitted to the belly of the plane”, and taken to a smaller C32A military jet, The New York Times said.

He and the small group of aides flew to the British Air Force base Mildenhall, where he switched to the Qatari-donated plane for the next leg of the flight to the US, both newspapers reported, quoting unnamed officials.

Meanwhile, the other officials and the reporters, who had boarded Air Force 1, flew on the older plane to Britain and joined Trump on the onward trip, oblivious to Trump having made the switch.

Journalists on the plane reported that they had been asked to keep the windows closed during the flight.

The White House did not confirm or deny the reports about the operation that sounds like a spy thriller, but White House communications director Steven Cheung hinted that the president’s trip faced security issues requiring special measures.

He said, “As the president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats”.

There was another drama behind the return journey on July 8 from the NATO summit in Ankara.

The plane gifted by Qatar, which Trump flaunted as a showpiece because of its luxuries, was used for Trump’s trip to Ankara.

But the Secret Service and other security officials did not consider that the hasty upgrades it received had given it the level of security of the older Air Force 1s.

Therefore, they first made the switch to an older Air Force 1, and sent the Qatar plane on to Britain, before the switch to the military jet.

Trump said that he had sent the Qatar plane to Britain because US military personnel at the base wanted to see the plane.

However, reports said the reason was the ”credible threats” that had been intercepted, and the Qatar plane’s upgrades did not include the anti-missile defence systems and the wiring to resist electromagnetic surges that the older Air Force 1s had.

It appears that the Secret Service and other security officials later thought that even the older Air Force 1 was not safe enough and decided to smuggle Trump to the military jet, a variant of Boeing 757 without the ostentatious luxuries he is fond of.

When The New York Times exposed the inadequacies of the Qatar-donated plane quoting official sources, the Department of Justice issued subpoenas to the reporters as well as to their relatives, including the mother of one of the journalists, demanding their phones.

Officials defended the unusual subpoenas, claiming they wanted to find the leakers they asserted had endangered national security before dropping them because of the backlash.

The accusations of the leaks only confirmed the security issues with the Qatar plane that Trump and officials had denied.

The plane was taken off service “to be maxed out”, Trump said.

The old Air Force 1s and the Qatar-donated plane that is to serve as another Air Force 1 are all variations of Boeing 747s.

IANS