Scoop: White House Staffers Say Trump 'Left Us' on Decoy Jet to Die

An exclusive report by Raw America White House reporter Brian Karem

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., August 7, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

President Donald Trump’s secret ploy to escape an Iranian missile attack is drawing fire from both a former White House press secretary and even senior members of his own White House staff, Raw America can reveal.

During a recent press gaggle, Trump confirmed he was a target of a potential Iranian attack after leaving last month’s NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, as were the reporters in the traveling press pool. The president even joked he would “go first” if someone were to shoot the jet out of the air.

“Apparently not,” one high-ranking member of Trump’s staff told Raw America. “He got off the plane and left us there.”

Trump’s surreptitiously coordinated switch of airplanes was done without the knowledge of members of the press, and even left Cabinet members, high-ranking staff and reporters aboard Air Force One as potential sitting ducks in the event of a missile attack.

Trump’s actions have clearly caused a rift among some senior staff. When reporters asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week about the ruse, Rubio turned around, gave a slight grin, and then left the room with a disgusted expression on his face.

“How would you feel if you were cannon fodder?” one senior staffer told Raw America.

At least two members of the press anonymously confided that they also didn’t enjoy being “cannon fodder” for Trump, with one even saying they had gotten their “affairs in order” for the next time they’re in the traveling press pool.

“What does it say that our president cares so little for those around him?” The Trump staffer explained.

The incident drew comparisons to a 2000 incident in which then-President Bill Clinton switched planes in Pakistan due to the threat of an attack, following a nuclear summit between Pakistan and India. But former Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart says the comparisons are inaccurate.

“I’ve read a lot of fiction about what President Trump did and what Clinton did in Pakistan in 2000,” Lockhart told Raw America in an exclusive interview. “I was there with Clinton and I know what happened.”

Lockhart said he felt compelled to come forward following Trump’s month-long gaslighting of the press following the incident in Turkey (you can watch the full interview with Lockhart below).

As the Washington Post reported this week, Trump left the Ankara summit in a separate military aircraft after being smuggled in an airport catering truck. Secret Service employed the strategy amid threats from Iran, which borders Turkey and had been vowing to take revenge against Trump in response to his attacks on Tehran over the last six months.

Trump had been using a new version of Air Force One — a repurposed $400 million gift from the Qatari royal family. But the new jet didn’t have the necessary anti-aircraft defense systems needed to repel a missile attack, so the old Air Force One Boeing 747 was put back in service.

The president told the press the “new” Air Force one was sent to Europe on a sightseeing tour. Upon departure from Turkey, passengers aboard were told the aircraft window shades needed to be drawn because of credible threats against Trump.

“I just did what [the Secret Service] told me,” Trump said Tuesday night in Ohio.

“The Secret Service doesn’t make presidents do anything,” Lockhart said in response to Trump’s comment. “They can suggest [solutions], but the president ultimately makes the decisions.”

Former President George W. Bush famously rejected Secret Service advice following the 9/11 attacks. Bush refused an opportunity to sneak back into Washington, telling the Secret Service and assembled reporters, “I’m not hiding from anyone.”

While Trump lied for more than a month about the swapping out of the jet, Lockhart, noted that Clinton was much more transparent following the 2000 incident in which he brokered peace talks between the two regional nuclear powers.

“It was one of the most frightening times I spent in the White House,” Lockhart said.

The morning Clinton left for Pakistan, the Secret Service presented a plan during a senior staff meeting to reduce the risk of an attack on the president. They aimed to use a C-17 aircraft to carry Clinton, White House staff, Secret Service, military personnel and journalists to Pakistan. Lockhart noted that Air Force One was never even once considered as a mode of transportation or decoy.

The idea was to load the C-17 up with support staff and media, have the president board the plane, then secretly get off on the opposite side and board a smaller military jet that couldn’t be seen from the cameras because of the size of the C-17.

While the swap-out was similar to Trump’s plan in Ankara, Lockhart said that’s where the similarity ends.

“That plan simply didn’t work for me, and I made that clear in the meeting. A couple of us from the White House staff adjourned to the hallway and met with the two top officials in the Secret Service,” Lockhart explained. “I made the point clearly and strongly that we could not use the media and other civilians as decoys to protect the president. It was that simple.”

“After a tense, yet respectful conversation, the service promised a plan that would address their needs, our concerns and certainly what the president would have wanted had he needed to be brought into the conversation,” he added.

The Secret Service then decided to park the C-17 on the tarmac, allowing Clinton to be seen walking around it so everyone watching on television or in person could see he wasn’t climbing aboard. However, three smaller military passenger jets on the tarmac weren’t seen, and Clinton got into one of them. The smaller three jets were the first to take off. Reporters aboard the C-17 took off last so they could witness the three smaller planes taking off. They knew the president was on one of them, but didn’t know which one.

“I should note that senior members of the press were briefed in advance of this operation, by me, and although they didn’t know all the details it was made clear we would make clear the president was not going to travel on the plane they were on,” Lockhart said. “There was no attempt to hide anything, much less lie about it later.”

“This is the difference between a president who serves the people, and a monarch who thinks the people are there to only serve him,” he added.

Lockhart — who said he prefers to spend most of his time these days golfing at his favorite country club rather than commenting on politics — insisted that some things are not excusable in the name of national security.

“There is simply no reason why we should accept that behavior and the reporters and the staff who were left behind have every reason to be upset,” he said. “The president’s life is paramount. But that’s not an excuse for forgetting everyone else.”

The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has so far not issued any public statement about the Ankara jet swap, but has told WHCA members they are in discussions with the White House about the incident.

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