Trump Abandons Air Force Crew, Secret Service, Press And His Own Staff As Expendable Bait

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump last month abandoned Air Force One crew members, Secret Service agents, journalists and his own White House staff to serve as decoys against a possible attack from Iran while he secreted himself away from danger — despite the existence of alternatives, aviation experts said.

In a remarkable episode detailed by the Washington Post, Trump left last month’s NATO summit in Turkey via an airline catering truck that let him escape Air Force One and board a smaller jet for the flight to England. He then clandestinely reboarded the craft at Mildenhall Air Base, disembarking in view of the cameras to climb onto his preferred air transport, the luxury 747 he solicited from the Qatari royal family that lacks the missile defense systems of the purpose-built Air Force One 747s.

Multiple White House officials failed to respond to HuffPost queries on the topic, and the Air Force referred all questions on the matter to the White House.

Asked by reporters Tuesday night about why it was OK for his staff and reporters to fly on a plane that he believed was too dangerous for him, Trump replied ― nonsensically ― that Iran was somehow more likely to target the plane that it had no way of knowing he was aboard.

“I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” he said on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. “I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for.”

The 13 members of the press “pool” aboard Air Force One were unaware that Trump was not aboard — the entire reason for their being there — until the Post published its article. It is unclear how many of the two to three dozen Air Force crew members aboard and the unknown number of Secret Service and White House staff were also unaware of the deception.

It was also unclear why Trump chose to potentially endanger all those people — possibly 100 or more, depending on how many White House and Secret Service staff were aboard — rather than choose another option.

For example, the plane could have flown with an escort of F-35 fighters, which are often equipped with sophisticated anti-missile electronic warfare technology, aviation experts said. Or it could have been accompanied by large tankers or cargo planes, creating multiple radar echoes and heat sources to make targeting Air Force One more difficult. The simplest option might have been for Trump to slip away aboard the smaller jet, then publicly announce that fact after he was safely over the Mediterranean Sea or western Europe before clearing Air Force One to take off.

Richard Aboulafia with the AeroDynamic Advisory consulting group wondered how serious a threat there even was, given that the flight from Turkey back to the U.S. was largely through airspace controlled by NATO allies, making it unlikely that Iran could have positioned a surface-to-air missile launcher on the flight path.

“What could they do, airlift a SAM battery into the area?” he said, adding that the entire episode might have more to do with the growing proof that the Qatar jet was thoroughly inappropriate to serve as Air Force One. “If I was deeply embarrassed by the whole thing, this is something I might come up with.”

One military aviation expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the most credible threat was likely a single person or small group with portable launchers firing at a plane at takeoff or landing.

Air Force One 747s have infrared laser emitters to blind the sensors on heat-seeking missiles as well as the ability to deploy chaff and flares to confuse anti-aircraft weapons. How well those defenses would work in a real attack is not known. The Qatar jet, in contrast, has none of these tools.

Whatever the actual danger, that Trump used his traveling press corps as decoys without their consent represents a massive breach of trust.

George Condon, the National Journal reporter who served as president of the White House Correspondents Association in the early 1990s, said the press corps has a long history of traveling with presidents while maintaining secrecy to prevent ambushes.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt took wire service reporters with him to conflict zones during World War II. President Joe Biden took a small group of reporters with him to Kyiv in Ukraine. President George H.W. Bush took reporters — including Condon — to war-ravaged Somalia in late 1992.

“We did not leak. They took us into their confidence. They trusted us,” Condon said. “Through eight decades, the press corps has shown that it can be trusted to keep a secret.”

Even in 2000, when President Bill Clinton traveled to Pakistan to defuse tensions with India, the press pool was kept apprised of both the potential danger and the plan as it arrived in Islamabad with staff aboard a C-17 transport. A decoy Air Force plane in blue-and-white livery arrived first, with Clinton arriving last aboard an unmarked business jet.

What Trump did last month was the first instance when the press was, without its knowledge, used as a decoy.

“There’s no precedent for this,” Condon said.

Trump said he asked the Qataris to give him the jet because the Air Force One 747s that are now 35 years old are not big enough for the American president. While the Air Force is replacing them with newer modified 747s that are just as big as the Qatari plane — 18 feet longer than the current ones, for a total length of 250 feet — that program is years behind schedule due to Trump’s meddling in the contract signed during the Obama administration.