Rubio and Bessent stayed on decoy flight from Turkey as Trump switched
planes, official says
[August 13, 2026]
By MATTHEW LEE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The two most senior members of President Donald
Trump's Cabinet, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent, flew out of last month’s NATO summit in Turkey on what
was effectively a decoy plane following an Iranian threat, while Trump
was secretly moved to a smaller military jet, a senior U.S. official
said Wednesday.
The official, who was briefed on the situation and spoke on condition of
anonymity to discuss sensitive details of presidential travel, said
Rubio was aware of the switch and details of the threat behind it but
could or would not say why he had stayed on the plane. The official said
Bessent was likely aware but did not know for sure.
The official, however, noted that security precautions for the president
— especially one who has been the target of several assassination
attempts — are more robust than those for even top members of the
Cabinet.
Under the U.S. Constitution, the secretaries of State and Treasury
follow the vice president and the highest ranking member of each chamber
of Congress in the presidential line of succession.
Trump had flown to the annual gathering of NATO country leaders in
Ankara, Turkey, in a new Qatari-gifted and retrofitted red, white and
navy blue jet. But ahead of departing Turkey, he said he would fly
partway home on an older-model baby blue Air Force One plane instead.
The president at the time said the new luxury jet was being flown out
ahead of his departure from Ankara to give some U.S. troops based in
eastern England a chance to check out the new Air Force One.
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Catering trucks are parked at Air Force One on the tarmac as the
motorcade carrying U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to depart
following the NATO summit at Ankara International Airport in Ankara,
Turkey, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The Washington Post reported this week that Trump wasn’t on the old
Air Force One on the return flight from Turkey and that he instead
was smuggled onto another jet via a catering cart to avoid a
possible Iranian assassination plot. The ruse was carried out as
journalists and some White House staff members were led to believe
they were on the same plane as the president as he began his journey
back to Washington.
The New York Times and CBS News had reported last month that
intelligence officials had raised concerns about a potential attack
on the president or his jet, triggering additional precautions and
the decision not to use the newly inaugurated aircraft gifted to
Trump by Qatar for the first leg of Trump’s trip home from Ankara.
Trump acknowledged the transfer late Tuesday.
“It’s only up to the Secret Service. I just follow what they’d like
to do, so I go by Secret Service and the military,” the president
told reporters at Joint Base Andrews. “They wanted me to go on a
different flight, a different plane, equal safety, but they wanted
me to do it, so I do it, I do what they say.”
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