{"id":520969,"date":"2026-08-11T17:53:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T21:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/trump-sparks-controversy-by-using-a-plane-with-journalists-as-a-decoy-amid-an-iranian-threat\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T17:53:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T21:53:15","slug":"trump-sparks-controversy-by-using-a-plane-with-journalists-as-a-decoy-amid-an-iranian-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/international\/trump-sparks-controversy-by-using-a-plane-with-journalists-as-a-decoy-amid-an-iranian-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump sparks controversy by using a plane with journalists as a decoy amid an Iranian threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Washington (EFE).- <\/strong>The secret maneuver by U.S. President Donald Trump to change planes in Turkey due to a possible threat from Iran sparked controversy this Tuesday, as it left part of his team and the press accompanying him aboard an aircraft that, unknowingly, served as a decoy and could have been the target of an attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan, revealed on Monday night by The Washington Post newspaper, has sparked disbelief among some journalists, who believe that the operation put the press traveling with the president at serious risk, while supporters of the measure applaud the Secret Service for having protected the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The events took place last July 8, at the end of the NATO summit in Ankara, when Trump boarded Air Force One in front of the cameras to head to the United Kingdom, although minutes later Secret Service agents took him off the plane from the opposite side, hidden in a catering truck, and discreetly transferred him to another aircraft with the same destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recommend reading:Trump traveled from Turkey with a decoy plane due to the threat from Iran<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Air Force One remained part of the White House team and the journalists accompanying the president, who were unaware both that Trump was no longer on board and that his plane could be used as a decoy in the event of an Iranian attack, in a context of renewed tension between Washington and Tehran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Controversy over the maneuver<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The journalists who made that trip confirmed this Tuesday that they were unaware of the plan and recounted that, upon boarding Air Force One, Secret Service agents ordered them to keep the window shades down without offering them any further explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The maneuver has generated disbelief among journalists with extensive experience covering the White House, including Jake Tapper, a renowned CNN anchor, who explained this Tuesday that during a previous Administration he traveled with the president to Afghanistan and that, despite security difficulties, the press always remained with the president and no one used them as a “decoy”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Obviously, the president’s life is paramount, and previous White Houses have used deception to protect the president’s life. But no official I have spoken to had ever heard of the use of an Air Force One filled with White House staff and journalists as a decoy during an imminent threat,” he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, Ari Fleischer, who was Press Secretary for President George W. Bush, defended the Secret Service’s actions on the X network and considered that, in the face of a threat, their obligation was to protect the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If there is a credible threat against any president, your job is to protect him. I regret if the press felt misled. In such an extraordinary situation, what was the White House supposed to do? Announce the change?” he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president’s trips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The American president always travels accompanied by a team of reporters, known as the White House ‘pool’, who know his movements and allow for the documentation of historic moments, such as when Bush received the news, during a visit to a school, of the September 11, 2001 attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Washington Post published this Tuesday that President Bill Clinton used a maneuver similar to Trump’s in Pakistan in 2000, although on that occasion the White House confidentially informed the press traveling with him about the operation and its risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Post noted that the Trump episode could further deteriorate the already tense relationship between the Republican and the press, marked by insults, restrictions, and lawsuits against reporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington (EFE).- The secret maneuver by U.S. President Donald Trump to change planes in Turkey due to a possible threat from Iran sparked controversy this Tuesday, as it left part of his team and the press accompanying him aboard an aircraft that, unknowingly, served as a decoy and could have been the target of an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133556,"featured_media":520970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[15247],"class_list":["post-520969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international","tag-the-washington-post"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-2bwJ","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/avion_trump.webp","dum_api":{"author_name":"Yerandi Santana","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2026-02-13-at-5.35.07-PM-96x96.jpeg","categories_name":["International"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/avion_trump.webp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133556"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}