Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed intelligence pointing to an Iranian assassination threat and chose to stay aboard Air Force One while President Donald Trump was secretly shuttled to a smaller plane, according to a report.
When the CIA received intelligence from Israel about the assassination threat, the U.S. agency’s analysts were unconvinced by the intelligence and relayed their concerns to Trump administration officials, The Washington Post reports, citing U.S. officials.
Rubio, 55, was briefed on both the Israeli intelligence of the missile threat against Air Force One and the Secret Service’s planned deception but nonetheless boarded Air Force One, a former official familiar with the matter told the Post.
“All of this was put in motion because the threat sounded very specific, alarming, and concerning. But they didn’t have high confidence in it,” Dan Lamothe, one of the Post reporters who broke the story, told Erin Burnett on CNN on Wednesday.
“It seems they landed on wanting to make sure the president was taken care of. But others—Secretary of State Marco Rubio among them—made the judgment call to stay on the first plane at the actual departure point.”
Rubio was among several senior Trump officials who boarded Air Force One, presumably the aircraft Iran would have targeted, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung.
White House aides Natalie Harp, Dan Scavino and Walt Nauta, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, traveled with Trump aboard a military jet after the president was secretly transferred to it using an airport catering truck.
Lamothe told Burnett that it’s unclear who among White House officials was aware of the Secret Service operation and who was not.
“What you’re really left with is part of the Cabinet on one plane and part of the Cabinet on the other plane—not everyone on each plane knowing what was happening—and the government, the military, the Secret Service and everyone else involved trying to keep both planes safe,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump, who has faced questions about the decision to allow White House officials and journalists to fly aboard the decoy Air Force One, insisted Tuesday that he was simply following the Secret Service’s instructions.
“They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety,” the 80-year-old president said. “I do what they say.”
But Burnett noted Wednesday, “If the secretary of state could make his own decision, that raises questions about whether the president could have done the same.”
Rubio, meanwhile, kept mum when confronted Tuesday about the clandestine operation, which the White House press pool aboard Air Force One knew nothing about.
“Mr. Secretary, did you put Americans at risk by having them fly an Air Force One when it was under threat?” a reporter asked.
The Secretary of State kept smiling awkwardly at the cameras and quickly said, “Thank you, guys,” before walking away without answering the question.
