Trump hid in catering truck in secret plane swap over Iran threat, reports say

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth boarded the C-32A separately using external stairs in an effort to make the flight appear normal, according to the newspaper.

Journalists and some White House staff boarded Air Force One and were reportedly told to close their window shades. They were unaware the president was no longer on board.

A pool producer who was on the plane said one unusual moment on the flight was the request that members of the press keep the shades down. A photographer briefly opened one and was quickly told to close it and that it was a request from the Secret Service, which guards the president.

The producer, in a report from the White House Correspondents Association provided on Tuesday, also noted there appeared to have been two catering trucks at both the front and back of the plane when the press arrived, and their van had been too far back in the motorcade at the airport be able to take a photo of the president boarding.

Technically “Air Force One” is the call sign for any aircraft carrying the US president. But on this occasion, the C-32A used the call sign “Reach 18”, while the aircraft carrying the journalists continued to use “AF1” in order to keep up the ruse.

Trump then flew to the UK en route to the US, where he reboarded the old Air Force One and was seen descending from the aircraft after it landed at RAF Mildenhall. It is unclear how he moved from the C-32A back to the legacy jet.