CNN host Kaitlan Collins has called out Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, for staying quiet on the Air Force One ruse.
The 80-year-old president was secretly sneaked from the legacy Air Force One jet to a smaller military plane in an airport catering truck while departing Turkey last month, amid a credible missile threat against the original aircraft, according to a Washington Post investigation.
Miller, 40, was among those left aboard the decoy plane, joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, while Trump’s personal aide Natalie Harp and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accompanied the president on the actual flight. The Secret Service instigated the ruse after intelligence flagged an Iranian threat on Trump’s life.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins aired footage of herself confronting Miller outside the White House, asking, “Did you know you were on the plane that the president was not on?” Miller refused to answer her or other reporters. Collins then addressed the exchange in a studio monologue.
“Were you aware the president wasn’t on Air Force One on the flight back from Turkey? Steven, did you know that you were on the plane that the president was not on?” she recounted asking. “That was the White House deputy chief of staff, Steven Miller, declining to answer questions from reporters today, including mine,” she told viewers.
Collins added new detail on who else had been kept in the dark. “Sources tell CNN that the president was joined on that secret flight by the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, his executive assistant Natalie Harp, the Deputy White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and his close staffer Walt Nauta,” she said.
“While on the decoy Air Force One Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and yes, Steven Miller as well.”
Trump, who has faced mounting questions over the decision to let White House officials and journalists fly aboard the decoy plane without telling them, insisted he was simply following Secret Service orders.
“They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety,” the president said. “I do what they say.”
Rubio offered no more clarity when reporters pressed him on the operation, which the White House press pool aboard the decoy jet knew nothing about at the time.
Asked directly, “Mr. Secretary, did you put Americans at risk by having them fly an Air Force One when it was under threat?” Rubio smiled awkwardly at the cameras, said, “Thank you, guys,” and walked away without answering.
It comes after Miller ranted for five straight minutes on The Will Cain Show on Wednesday. Miller joined a conservative conversation about “woke” culture, seemingly provoked by the success of progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in a Senate primary race in Michigan last week.
After unleashing his rant, Miller even stated, “I’m sorry for this monologue, but it’s got to be said.”
His sermon began by railing against “the left” for an “unrelenting war against police” and touched on all manner of MAGA lightning rods.
