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The White House on Thursday defended the new retrofitted Air Force One as safe and secure after reports emerged indicating President Trump switched to the older model to leave Turkey out of an abundance of caution.
“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal — including distraction and misdirection — to address those threats,” he said.
Trump took the older, baby blue model of Air Force One when departing from the NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday to fly to the Royal Air Force Mildenhall base in the U.K.
He then took the newer, Qatari-gifted plane back to the U.S.
The president said earlier Wednesday he would be taking the older plane to the base “for old times’ sake” and that the newer plane was being brought to Mildenhall so military troops there could check it out.
When pressed later on whether he had not taken the new plane because of threats from Iran, he sidestepped the question, instead saying he is a top target of Iran.
“I’m No. 1 on the kill list for Iran,” he said.
In response to a follow-up question about why he wasn’t taking the retrofitted Boeing, Trump said it was “going to a couple of bases so the soldiers can see it because it’s truly magnificent.”
Reporters on the plane were told to keep their window blinds closed during the flight from Turkey to the U.K. but weren’t told why.
When they asked Trump, he said it was probably due to the “sleazebags over here.”
Iran and Turkey share a border.
Trump at the NATO summit declared the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran “over,” and the U.S. renewed strikes on Iran after the country was accused of striking ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
He also repeatedly suggested he could be a target of assassination attempts by the Iranians.
“I’m number one on the list for killing,” he said.
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