President Donald Trump attends the final of the 2026 Patriot Games at Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio, on Tuesday. [Reuters]
President Donald Trump attends the final of the 2026 Patriot Games at Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio, on Tuesday. [Reuters]

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When President Donald Trump secretly switched planes in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8 to evade an Iranian assassination threat, only his closest longtime aides accompanied him on the military transport aircraft, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Trump had wrapped up the NATO summit and sent the new Air Force One — a gift from Qatar — ahead to a British air base before boarding the older aircraft. More than 100 senior staff members, administration officials and journalists were on that plane, but Trump slipped out through an opposite door, hid behind a catering vehicle and boarded a US Air Force C-32 transport.

The aides who joined Trump on the covert plane swap were not Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the top-ranking cabinet official in the presidential line of succession, nor Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, ranked second — but rather a small circle of White House confidants, the Post said.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, aide Natalie Harp and Director Walt Nauta were among those who made the switch with Trump. All three had stayed by his side at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as he prepared his comeback after his first term, and had remained loyal when most of those around him began to distance themselves during the two impeachment motions late in that term. By boarding the transport, they also escaped the risk of Iran shooting down the original Air Force One.

The older Air Force One ultimately flew to Britain without Trump aboard. Whether Rubio, Bessent and other top officials who remained on that plane knew Trump was not on it — or were aware of the Iranian intercept threat — was unclear, the Post said.

The secretary of state and the treasury secretary rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in the presidential line of succession, behind the vice president, the House speaker and the Senate president pro tempore.

US authorities had earlier received intelligence that Iran was planning to fire a man-portable surface-to-air missile at Air Force One as it departed Ankara. In response, the Secret Service launched what it called a "misdirection" operation, having Trump switch to a different aircraft and using the original plane as a decoy.

NBC said that had Iran shot down the plane, "it would have been recorded as one of the most horrific events in history — a catastrophic loss of life and a devastating blow to American prestige."

A senior US official told NBC: "The safety and security of the president is the top priority, and there are laws that govern that. The safety of journalists and staff is not treated the same. That's a risk everyone agreed to take. If I die, I die."


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