An operation in Turkey last month in which US President Donald Trump was sneaked away from Air Force One to another plane due to the threat of a lethal Iranian attack may have endangered the lives of numerous government officials and journalists aboard the presidential jet he left, according to a report on Tuesday.

The officials who remained aboard Air Force One, which was allowed to take off from a NATO summit in Ankara despite the threat, included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as well as top Trump aides Stephen Miller and Steven Cheung, The New York Times reported.

US intelligence found information about plans to fire a surface-to-air missile at Air Force One and had received a report of a person with a shoulder-fired missile in the area of the summit, according to the New York Times, which cited two US officials with knowledge of the matter in a separate report on Tuesday.

The Times reported on Tuesday that the Iranians had zeroed in on Trump’s exact location in Ankara, down to the specific floor of his hotel building.

The report said the credibility of the threat led to the decision to secretly spirit Trump away from the Turkish capital in a military plane while using Air Force One as a decoy.

Trump confirmed on Tuesday that he had been smuggled off Air Force One in Ankara because the Secret Service and US military told him to switch planes.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a media conference at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Trump had flown to the NATO summit in Ankara aboard a newly renovated Qatari-donated jet. The trip was the first international journey for the new plane, whose speedy........

© The Times of Israel