August 11, 2026:
Published
President Trump left some of his biggest cabinet members aboard Air Force One while he secretly escaped Turkey amid an alleged Iranian threat against POTUS and AF1 … including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top aides.
The Wall Street Journal reports Rubio and several senior officials remained on the older AF1 after Trump made a big show of boarding it in Turkey … only for Trump to sneak off in an airport catering truck and fly away on a military plane.
Israel reportedly warned the Trump administration Iran could target Air Force One with shoulder-to-air missiles … prompting the Secret Service to take extraordinary measures to protect Trump — and no one else.
Still … it’s unclear how credible the threat was.
No missiles were fired … and a U.S. official said it was the first time Trump’s administration used this kind of aerial decoy.
As TMZ previously reported … Trump was secretly driven across the Ankara airport in a catering truck, then flown to the United Kingdom aboard an Air Force C-32A.
Before the switcheroo, Trump said he was taking the older Air Force One “for old time’s sake.” The newer AF1, a gift from Qatar, reportedly lacks adequate defense capabilities … so it wasn’t used on the flight from Turkey.
Trump flew home from the U.K. with reporters and everyone else on the new AF1 … and he was asked why journalists on the flight out of Turkey were asked to close their window shades. He replied, “You’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with. I’m number one on their list, before you. But if I go, you go right?”
Turns out, Trump went one way … while reporters, Rubio, his other top aides, military personnel, pilots and flight attendants went another.