Donald Trump 'whisked off plane via catering container before taking secret flight'

Donald Trump secretly left Turkey through a catering container to a military jet over a threat from Iran, according to US reports.

Senior American officials told the New York Times and Washington Post that despite the US president's public claims that he returned from Ankara via Air Force One, he was moved for security reasons at the end of last month's NATO summit.

While he was in Turkey, the US military carried out a series of large strikes in Iran in retaliation for its attacks on merchant shipping in the region.

Mr Trump said at the time he would be leaving Ankara airport on 8 July by one of the older versions of Air Force One - as opposed to a luxury 747-8 controversially donated by Qatar that he had arrived in.

Photos from news agencies at the time show the US president boarding Air Force One in view of journalists, who then reported that he had travelled to RAF Mildenhall in the UK before making the switch to the Qatari jet.

However, the New York Times and Washington Post reported on Monday that after boarding in Ankara, Mr Trump was taken off Air Force One by a catering container which had been lifted to the opposite side of the plane from where the journalists travelling with him got on board.

After being transported via the catering truck, he was then moved to a C-32A, a military variant of a Boeing 757, according to the Washington Post.

Both outlets then reported that when he arrived in the UK, he was secretly moved back to the older version of Air Force One, where he was then seen disembarking.

The president at the time said the new luxury jet was being flown out ahead of his departure from Ankara to give some US troops based in eastern England a chance to check out the Qatari-gifted aircraft.

Reporters leaving Ankara with Mr Trump were told to keep their window blinds closed, the Post said. When asked why on the journey from Mildenhall to the US, he said he has threats against him "all the time" and that he is Iran's "number one" target.

The decision to switch planes - which both outlets said made the older Air Force One in effect a decoy - was made after Mr Trump was briefed on a threat to his life from Iran while in Ankara.

The Times and Post said a small group of top government officials were involved in the plan, including General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and defence secretary Pete Hegseth.

It's unusual for the Secret Service to allegedly mislead the public on the US president's whereabouts: After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, officials working for ex-president George W Bush did not disclose his location for several hours, but they also did not say he was somewhere he was not.

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The White House did not respond directly to questions about the reports, but White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement: "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 to address those threats."

The Secret Service declined to comment, and the Air Force referred questions to the White House.

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