BAIT AND SWITCHED

Little Marco Cornered About Being Left as Sitting Duck by Trump

The Secretary of State was confronted over the bombshell AF1 report.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was confronted over the revelation that President Donald Trump secretly ditched Air Force One last month while traveling back from Turkey due to an Iranian assassination threat.

Trump departed Ankara on a military aircraft on July 8 even as the White House claimed he was aboard the former Air Force One, according to the Washington Post.

Trump, 80, made a whole show of boarding the former Air Force One in front of the cameras before being shuttled to the smaller plane by an airport catering truck, leaving Air Force One to be a “decoy” unbeknownst to the media onboard.

Rubio was appearing alongside the Austrian foreign minister on Tuesday when he was confronted about the move.

“Mr. Secretary, did you put Americans at risk by having them fly an Air Force One when it was under threat?” a reporter asked.

Rubio kept smiling awkwardly at the cameras and quickly said, “Thank you, guys,” before walking away and not answering the question.

While Rubio had traveled with the president to Turkey for the NATO summit last month, he was not among the small group of officials who were taken with Trump on the alternate flight and was actually left behind with the staff on the former Air Force One, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The White House did not respond to the Daily Beast’s inquiry about who all had traveled separately with the president.

Among those who did end up on the alternate jet with the president was Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but he boarded the plane separately from Trump using the external stairs, the Post reported.

SWITCHEROO

Trump Used Decoy Plane After Iran Assassination Threat

Nandika Chatterjee

After the NATO summit, Trump boarded the legacy blue-and-white Air Force One jet in front of the cameras before being taken to the smaller Air Force C-32A by the truck typically used to load meals.

Video at the airport showed the catering truck container elevated next to Air Force One on the opposite side from where the press boarded.

Reporters on the older Air Force One thought they were on the same plane as the president. They were directed to close their window shades upon boarding, according to a pool report.

In response to the Post’s report, the White House issued a statement instead defending the gifted Qatari jet and did not address its questions.

“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,” Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement to the Post. “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 to address those threats.”

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