How did Trump mitigate an Iranian assassination attempt? – Washington Insider

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1:56I'm Katie Balls and as well as my weekly chat with Gerry Baker, you can often hear me on Times Radio. Here's the latest conversation.

2:08Katie Balls is the Washington editor at The Times and The Sunday Times. And every Tuesday we check in with her to find out what is going on in Washington. Welcome to the show, Katie. Thank you. I'm just going to sit back and give you the floor to outline this extraordinary story Trump getting in one plane, getting in a catering truck, getting in another plane and so it goes on while leaving your colleagues to act as a decoy Yes, as you say it's quite an extraordinary story first reported by the Washington Post, the New York Times has also had details and all relates to the NATO summit So when President Trump headed to NATO in Turkey recently, they made quite a show of the fact he was going to be in his new Air Force One.

2:59Now, his new Air Force One was a gift from the Qataris. At the time, that was pretty controversial, taking such an expensive gift, one. Number two, security concerns. And should a foreign government really be giving something to another government and which really needs to have such high level security on national security grounds to fly the president around. It therefore had to be retrofitted with all these security measures. And then even at the time in NATO, it became clear that he wasn't flying back on the Qatari plane. What has since transpired is that he also didn't fly back on the old Air Force One, or at least not for most of the journey.

3:40Instead, he was abruptly switched to another aircraft. to get into that we believe that he was on a catering truck so no one quite realized he was getting off the plane he'd just got on and then he later switched back once he got to well basically in the UK at Mildred Hall that was where the latest switch happened so when he landed back in DC it looked as though he had just been on the old Air Force One the whole time and we're told that some of the journalists on that plane, along with even some White House staff, did not know that the switch had happened. Why did this all happen? Because of Iranian assassination plots and threats.

4:20Clearly, the threat level was serious enough that they decided to come up with this quite elaborate scheme. It has left some journalists, perhaps some White House aides, we have yet to hear from them, asking if they were really just, you know, cannon fodder at this point should have all gone wrong as the Secret Service were concerned about enough to move him. Yeah, I mean, it would have been an incredible threat because Turkey, of course, is next door to Iran. But it also makes the point that his spanking brand new jet from Qatar doesn't have quite the same defensive measures, despite the enormous amount spent on it as the original Air Force One.

4:52Yeah, and the White has been very defensive on the issue of this new Qatari jet anyway so it was already the case that he wasn't flying back on the qatari jet and he had moved to the other plane it's the what we now know is on top of the other plane where they were so concerned that he was on a third plane um but it was it's already been a case where the white has been very annoyed at journalists when they have pointed out that the qatari jet does not have the same measures as the original f the current air force one um but trump prefers the qatari jet because um i'm yet to go on this plane. But speaking to journalists who have, it is nicer in the sense it is more spacious.

5:34I think even the journalist area, there are plug-in sockets for every journalist. Can you imagine how that relates to Trump's quarters if the journalists also have it nicer? I think that the sleeping area of the president. It's only a matter of time, Katie, but I love the fact that a journalist is happy just so long as they've got a plug-in socket. They don't need a reclining seat just give a journalist a plug and sock it and they're happy look it's the small things i think there are also reclining seats though i think that is in every seat is reclining and so but of course the journalists were less happy when they think they were tricked into being on the old air force one which might have been shot down by the iranians while trump was on a different plane but of course um i think not quite knowing about it because on this plane journey just final pointers they were told at one point to put the shutters down on the windows.

6:24And they later said, you know, why was that? And Trump said, well, you know, it's pretty dangerous flying with me, but it suggested they were all in it together. And it seems they were not actually all in it together. That's right. Let's turn back to the Democratic primaries, which we've been discussing every time you and I have met on this show, because they're electing or interesting people are winning the Democratic primaries. And the latest one to be a front runner is Francesca Hong in Wisconsin, again, described as a democratic socialist. She's faced scrutiny because she's said things in the past on social media like cancel Thanksgiving.

7:02So again, it's this very interesting thing of the Democrats choosing what I think are actually quite charismatic people, but in American terms, having quite extreme views. Yeah, I think there's two ways of looking at it. As you say, some of these candidates, then Francesca Hong is actually a democratic socialist, and she is a card carrying member the DSA, so the Democratic Socialists of America, whereas the Michigan candidate who won last week says he's not, you know, he's not a DSA member. So this is a, I would say Francesca Hong is a purer version of democratic socialism than what we've seen previously, and therefore is being critiqued more.

7:39For example, Bernie Sanders has not endorsed her. AOC, the Congresswoman, has not endorsed her in the way they endorsed the Michigan candidate. When it comes to her seat, I actually met her a week or so ago. I followed her around in Wisconsin for a day on the campaign trail. And she is a chef. She's a single mother. She's in her 30s. And she was involved in local politics in Madison and Wisconsin. And she decided to go for it. She was seen as an underdog. But her campaign has cut through. It's been a largely digital campaign. And I think there is something about having a bit of personality. and what lots of people see as authenticity in terms of relating to their problems.

8:23That's what I kept picking up that has seen her become the favourite to win this race. The rub is that if you look at some of her past positions and past tweets, particularly she's talked about abolishing ICE. I think she stands by that one, but she's also talked about defunding the police. So she won't do that now because it wouldn't be in the power of the governor to do that if she were to become Wisconsin governor and has also talked about cancelling Thanksgiving. Now that one has received particular attention in the US and she was asked does she still want to cancel Thanksgiving the idea of being it's an insensitive holiday the origins too of Thanksgiving and you know what what happened there meaning that it shouldn't take place and she initially gave a bit of a non answer saying I'm a chef but it's a hard day for some people then she was asked it again and this time she said I love Thanksgiving it's my favorite holiday so she's clearly trying to um particularly in a state famous you know for farming and cheese and meat and trying to move slightly more to the mainstream because I think the expectation is she'll win the primary she'll be the democratic candidate but in a swing state in a purple state like Wisconsin is she too uh you know on the edge is she too left-wing are some of these positions too isolating even if she has answers to say she's not going to do half this stuff to really to bring it home.

9:40I think that is the concern of lots of more establishment Democrats here in Washington, DC. It's going to make the midterms absolutely fascinating if candidates like Hong continue to win these Democratic primaries. We shall have to see what happens. Katie Balls, Washington editor at The Times and Sunday Times, thank you so much for coming on the show and updating us about what is going on in Washington.

10:07Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show we recommend. Welcome to Acast Classics 2026. Four exceptional limited series handpicked for their journalism, craft and storytelling. Including Sweet Bobby. I'd caught him red-handed. Wes Cork. The trial turned on a single witness's testimony. The witness. I said, I didn't do it, so that's why I'm standing here. Carrie Jade does not exist. She offers them exactly that and then just bails. To find out more, head to acast.com forward slash classics. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.