New details on Iran’s plot to kill Trump: NYT

A security threat to Trump and Air Force One.The New York Times reporting tonight that Iranian threat to Air Force One is the reason Trump abruptly ditched his new plane and flew on the old presidential jet back to the U .S.from Turkey.Trump's flight to the NATO summit was his first overseas trip in the new $400 million jet given to him from the Middle Eastern country of Qatar.But according to The Times, while Trump was in Turkey, a threat emerged that Iranian proxy forces were targeting him in Air Force One from inside Turkey, from Istanbul.

So Trump left on the old Air Force One, which is more secure.

Now at the time, this is why Trump said he was swapping jets.going to Europe to a couple of bases, actually one in particular, but it's going to go to a couple of bases.So the soldiers can see it because it's truly magnificent.

I mean, that was a lot of detail, you know, that it was going because the soldiers wanted to see it and it was magnificent.But it turned out to not be true.That day, though, Trump did allude several times, perhaps to the real truth, which is that Iran wants him dead.

They want to take out The U .S.leader, me, I'm on every list.I saw things this morning.I'm on every single one of their lists.I'm number one on the kill list for Iran.

They're lovely people.I'm number one.I may be gone, too, because I'm their number one target.It's out all over the place.

I'm their number one because they're scum.

Well, I have a threat all the time.I'm number one.For you.Go, you go.

What new details are you learning about this specific threat against the president?

Yeah, Erin, thanks for having me.And what we have learned is that there was a specific credible threat that U .S.officials identified from an Iranian proxy group.targeting President Trump and Air Force One from inside Turkey.So this was what caused that swap in planes, a very specific threat that officials determined was credible causing this switch, which has obviously created a lot more questions about the security of the Qatari jet that has been serving as Air Force One.

So many more questions.And I mean, what you already lay out here, Tyler, is very specific, right?A threat from an Iranian -linked group inside Turkey.to Air Force One.Like I said, that's already very specific, but it sounds like there were even many more details.I mean, how specific was it?

Of course, this was the first international trip he took with this new Qatari -donated plane.And so it has raised questions about the security systems on that plane, which had already been raised months before the president even took his first flight.In terms of more specific than that, I think that is as granular as we've gotten at this point.An Iranian proxy group inside Turkey making threats that clearly caused concern for U .S.officials and prompted the Secret Service to urge the president to take the old Air Force One that has been in service flying Presidents around the world since the 1990s.

So we've heard the President publicly talk about this threat now multiple times.How did he react when he found out?

Yeah, what we know is what we saw in public from the President.The President was told about this and obviously the change was made publicly.The President said it was because he wanted to send the new Air Force One to a militaryhours after he found out about this very specific threat.He talked openly about Iran wanting to kill him, saying he was number one on the list, and alluded to some new information that he had seen.He did not get specific into the threat.

And in fact, Aaron, on the plane back to Washington, reporters asked him if there was a specific security threat that prompted the change in plane, and he said no.But then when he returned to Washington a week later, he then told reporters that the new Qatari jet was going to go under some — go out of service for a little bit to be maxed up.And what we have learned is that the plane will be out of service to get additional enhancements and upgrades.The White House has declined to specify what those are, but it's clear this prompted even more conversation and introspection within the administration about the safety and security of the presidential aircraft.

All right, Tyler, thank you very much.I appreciate your time.Thanks so much for having me.And out front now, Colonel Cedric Leighton and Iran expert, Haleh Dagorous.I appreciate both of you.Colonel, let me just start with you.

You hear Tyler's reporting Iranian proxy group inside of Turkey.Okay.And it's obviously specific, right, to whatever aircraft the president's on.One of them was secure.One of them was not.So what do you think that means in terms of what this strike could have been?

And what do you make of the fact that Trump had traveled to Turkey on the unsecured jet to begin with?

Yeah, that's very interesting, Erin.I think what we're seeing here is that there was clearly a perceived increase in the threat level against the president from this Iranian proxy group, or this Iranian proxy group, depending on exactly which entity it is.The Iranians have a very practiced effortwhere they go out into their neighboring countries and they have sleeper cells in many different areas, to include in Turkey.And so they, you know, combined with their intelligence services and, you know, potentially other groups that they work with, they are a viable threat.So I think the threat was probably not detected as he was coming to the NATO summit in Ankara, but they realized that while he was there.

was there that there was something brewing and quickly moved him to the other aircraft, to the original Air Force One.

So, Holly, Trump has talked a lot about Iran trying to kill him.Of course, after the start of the war, right, where the U .S.and the Israelis killed the Iranian Supreme Leader and so many of the leadership of Iran.Let me play some more of what Trump has said.

They want to take out the U .S.leader, me. I'm on every list.I saw things this morning.I'm on every single one of their lists.I'm number one on the kill list for Iran.

They're lovely people.I'm number one.I'm their number one because they're scum.I'm number one on their list.

Holly, you have tracked Iran's threats against Trump for a long time.You know, how much, I guess, how central of a focus is this for this Iranian regime and its proxies?How much do they want to get Trump?

Aaron, this threat predates the Iran war.It started after the killing of Rhodes Force Commander Ghassem Soleimani in 2020 in Baghdad after a U .S.strike.And that threat has grown over the years.It's not just President Donald Trump.

He's got dozens of former U .S.officials, including National Security Advisor John Bolton, Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo, Special Envoy for Iran Brian Hooke. TwoTwo of those, Bolton and Pompeo, had foiled plots against the And so this predates this war, but we've been hearing a lot more rhetoric actually coming from Tehran, especially during Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral just in recent weeks.The mouthpiece of the Supreme Leader, Kayhan, actually put a $100 million bounty on his head just two weeks prior.

So this is not something new, but it's becoming more present because of the Iran war.