Trump says security was not behind Air Force One change after NATO summit

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied that security concerns were behind his decision to use an older Air Force One for part of his return trip from the NATO summit in Ankara, Türkiye.

Trump said a new aircraft gifted by Qatar flew ahead to Mildenhall Royal Air Force Base in the UK so military personnel could see it.

He wrote earlier on his Truth Social platform that the visit was at “the entire Base’s request” and involved “virtually no deviation of flightpath.”

“No, why would there be?” he said when asked whether security concerns were behind the change. He also dismissed the idea that the aircraft had mechanical issues.

“We sent it a little bit early so that we could let them see it. The base, the whole base came out and saw the plane, and then we landed,” Trump said during a gaggle aboard the new Air Force One.

He transferred to the new plane for the second leg of the trip back to the US.

After departing Türkiye aboard the older Air Force One instead of the newly renovated Qatari-donated jet that had flown him there, Trump switched to the new aircraft in the UK for the flight back to Washington.

Trump said he faces credible threats from Iran “all the time” but did not say whether there was a new threat Wednesday after the US carried out several retaliatory strikes against the country.

Asked why reporters were instructed to close the window shades in the press cabin during the flight from Türkiye to the UK, he replied: “You know, you’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags that we have to deal with.”

“They didn’t ask me to close mine, but if they did, I would have done it,” he said. “These are sick people, so I could see something like that. I didn’t know they did that.”