Trump secretly fled a potential Iranian assassination attempt, leaving Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, and other top aides aboard a decoy Air Force One, according to The Washington Post.
The extraordinary escape unfolded after Trump had publicly boarded Air Force One to attend the NATO summit in Turkey in July.
After making a public show of boarding the jet, Trump was secretly transferred with a small group of aides to a smaller Air Force C-32A after intelligence pointed to a potential Iranian plot to assassinate him.
The group traveled concealed in a catering truck from the legacy Air Force One to the second aircraft, which then flew separately to Britain.
The older plane continued on with the White House press corps and senior administration officials, apparently unaware that Trump was no longer aboard.
Among those who escaped with Trump were his besotted 35-year-old executive assistant Natalie Harp, Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and Oval Office operations director Walt Nauta, according to The Post.
All three belong to Trump’s tight inner circle and worked for him at Mar-a-Lago during the four years between his presidencies.
Scavino has worked for Trump for more than a decade, while Harp, nicknamed the “human printer,” is a constant presence at his side. Nauta, a former Trump White House valet and Navy veteran, was a key witness in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation.
A handful of lower-profile aides also made the switch.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was also moved to the C-32A, boarding via external stairs in a way that made him appear to be the most senior official on the flight, The Post reported.
Left behind were Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House communications director Steven Cheung, Deputy National Security Adviser Michael Needham, staff secretary Will Scharf—who was promoted this week to White House counsel—and the entire White House press pool, according to The Post.
Reporters aboard the older Air Force One believed Trump was traveling with them. They were instructed to close their window shades after boarding, according to a pool report.
It remains unclear whether all of the administration officials left behind knew about the deception, though reporters have confirmed they were kept in the dark.
Rubio was confronted about the episode Tuesday.
“Mr. Secretary, did you put Americans at risk by having them fly an Air Force One when it was under threat?” a reporter asked.
Rubio smiled awkwardly at the cameras and replied, “Thank you, guys,” before walking away without answering.
The ruse, which the Trump administration kept secret for more than a month, has prompted congressional Democrats to demand an immediate briefing.
“There has to be a congressional briefing because it involves not just the safety of the president,” Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal told CNN.
“I want to know what precautions were taken to make sure that all of the passengers on that Air Force One, which was judged too dangerous for the president to fly on, what precautions were taken to keep the staff and reporters on that plane safe.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association has also urged the administration to “work with us on a protocol for handling extraordinary security circumstances in the future.”
Trump, speaking publicly about the operation for the first time Tuesday, said the decision was made by the Secret Service and insisted he simply followed its instructions.
“It’s really just up to Secret Service. I just follow what they like to do,” Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. “They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety… I do what they say.”
Trump also argued that the threat was specifically greater for him than for those left aboard the original aircraft.
“The plane that I was on was at greater risk,” Trump said. “Because that would be the plane that I think that they would be more likely to go for.”
He said he was not surprised by the security operation because he faces “a lot of threats that you don’t know about.”
“Any consequential president has a lot of threats,” Trump said. “Non-consequential presidents don’t get threatened. And I think that I may be the most consequential.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
