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The Washington Post reported Monday that due to an alleged Iranian threat to assassinate President Trump, he secretly swapped planes before departing the July NATO summit in Turkey — leaving senior administration officials, staff and members of the press corps on board.
"The Israelis passed a tip, a concern, that the plane and potentially the president was under threat," says Dan Lamothe, one of the Washington Postreporters who broke the story. But it turns out the "CIA had low confidence" in the Israeli tip, according to a more recent Post story Lamothe co-authored on Thursday. "I think that kind of leaves the Secret Service in a tough spot of assessing: What do you do in this zero-fail mission to keep the president safe?"
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The idea has been long in the making, but could be difficult to implement and lead to unintended consequences, former officials and security experts said.
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In his first public comments on the operation, the president downplayed the risks to officials and journalists who remained on Air Force One for the flight from Turkey.
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