The intelligence on the alleged threat reportedly originated from Israel and was met with skepticism by American spies
The US intelligence community doubted reports of an Iranian plot to kill President Donald Trump by shooting down Air Force One as it departed a NATO summit in Türkiye, the Washington Post has reported. Their assessment was reportedly conveyed to the administration, yet the Secret Service still opted to covertly move Trump to another aircraft.
US media broke the story of the clandestine maneuver this Monday. On leaving the meeting, Trump abruptly switched from his new Qatari-gifted Boeing 747-8 to the previous Air Force One, but it turned out he secretly left that aircraft as well in an airport catering truck, flying aboard a smaller military plane to the UK. He is said to have reboarded the older Air Force One there to create the impression that he was on it the entire time.
CIA analysts were highly skeptical of intelligence on an imminent assassination plot and conveyed that position to the administration. Reports about the threat were “Israeli-derived, not US-generated, and viewed as low confidence,” an unnamed intel official told the Post.
The latest report adds more color to the whole affair, which has already sparked a major scandal. Reporters and many high-ranking officials were left in the dark about Trump’s maneuver and the perceived threat. Journalists felt they had been treated like “unwitting and unknowing decoys very much in the line of fire,” CNN senior reporter Aaron Blake has said.
Trump admitted to switching planes on Tuesday, insisting he was only doing what the Secret Service considered the best course of action. “I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, different plane. I just have to do what they say,” Trump told reporters.
The scandal also coincides with the departure of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who announced on Wednesday she would leave her position at the end of the month “so she can spend more time” with her family. The 28-year-old, who became a mother for the second time in May, returned to the White House after a hiatus in June. Leavitt’s abrupt departure has sprouted theories that she was among the unwitting officials left on the decoy aircraft and that the affair may have been the final straw for her.
