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A threat, a catering truck and a plan: Why officials deployed an elaborate ruse to get Trump out of Turkey - CNN

A threat, a catering truck and a plan: Why officials deployed an elaborate ruse to get Trump out of Turkey - CNN

WorldBy Kevin Liptak, Alayna Treene, Holmes Lybrand8/13/20261 min read

By the time President Donald Trump walked onstage at the end of last month’s NATO summit in Turkey, the plan to spirit him out of the country was already in motion.

✨ Key Highlights

  • US officials brought President Trump alarming intelligence during last month's NATO summit in Turkey, indicating Iran knew which luxury hotel he was staying at in Ankara and how his motorcade was moving through the capital.
  • The intelligence suggested Iran remained intent on killing Trump, potentially using a shoulder-mounted missile to bring down Air Force One, according to US officials familiar with the matter.
  • The Israeli government shared the alleged assassination plot with the CIA, though the agency and some other Trump officials viewed it skeptically, questioning both the intelligence's credibility and whether Iran had the capability to carry out such an attack.
  • Despite doubts about a plot succeeding at the heavily fortified summit, the disclosures triggered a heightened state of alert, compounded by prior Iranian threats and three separate assassination attempts against Trump in the United States.
  • Emerging two hours late and clutching a binder, Trump declared the summit a success but appeared preoccupied with Iran, remarking that the presidency is "a very dangerous profession."
  • A small group of senior officials spent the day devising a safe departure; four minutes after Trump's motorcade left the presidential complex for Ankara's airport, a white catering truck moved into place alongside Air Force One as part of the plan to get him out of the country on the evening of July 8.
By the time President Donald Trump walked onstage at the end of last months NATO summit in Turkey, the plan to spirit him out of the country was already in motion. Earlier that day, American officia