Donald Trump refuses to fly on new Air Force One gifted by Qatar for chilling reason
Donald Trump flew out of Turkey and left a NATO summit there on a different Air Force One from the plane he entered the country on.
The leaders of NATO countries gathered in Ankara this week to talk about their alliance, and according to Sir Keir Starmer they were given guns for attending.
The UK's prime minister was given a personalised revolver with his name on it and live ammunition as a gift from Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, though Starmer has left it with British officials in Turkey and not brought it back with him.
According to the New York Times, when US President Donald Trump left Turkey yesterday (8 July) he did so on the older Air Force One instead of the newer version he'd flown in on Monday (6 July).
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That newer plane is the one that he was gifted by Qatar, and the NYT reports that US Secret Service advised Trump to leave on the older aircraft as a precautionary measure.
The paper reports that anonymous experts have said the new plane is not as safe as the older one because it doesn't have all of the security features that the previous one did.
As such they're reporting that the Secret Service advised Trump to fly out on the safer aircraft, though not in response to a specific threat.
White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement: "The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff.
"As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal— including distraction and misdirection— to address those threats."
Trump has denied that he swapped planes because of security concerns.
Instead, he claimed he did it because the newer Air Force One was so 'magnificent' that it could visit Mildenhall Air Force Base in the UK and be shown off to American personnel stationed there while he'd go in the older one 'for old time's sake'.
When asked further about the reason for changing planes, Trump did say he was a target for assassination by Iran and reporters on the aircraft were told to put their window covers down before take-off.
Trump said that had probably been done because they were on a 'dangerous plane' threatened by Iran.
American airstrikes against Iran have resumed in recent days and Trump says he is 'number one on the kill list' for the Iranians.
When both versions of Air Force One were together in the UK, Trump swapped back to the newer aircraft for the final leg of the journey back to the US.
Topics: US News, Donald Trump, Iran
Joe Harker