He boarded Air Force One for the cameras, but left Turkey in a completely different jet. President Donald Trump has now confirmed the dramatic mid-tarmac switch.

Well, this is straight out of a spy movie.

According to cbinews.tv, US President Donald Trump has confirmed he secretly swapped planes as he left the NATO summit in Turkey last month after security officials flagged a possible threat.

"I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, different plane," Trump told reporters on Tuesday. "I just have to do what they say."

The confession comes after reports that on 8 July, Trump was filmed boarding the old Air Force One in Ankara, only to be quietly smuggled off the other side of the jet via a catering truck.

The last-minute manoeuvre has sparked serious questions about whether journalists and White House staff left on the decoy plane were put at risk. Trump, however, insisted the military jet he boarded instead was actually at "greater risk".

Officials told the BBC's US partner CBS News that the US had picked up a credible threat from Iran to fire a missile at the presidential aircraft. Journalists and some staff on board had no idea the president had already been moved as part of the elaborate ruse.

Trump, who has previously said he was Iran's "number one target" during the summit in Ankara, seemed fairly unfazed.

"I guess there was a threat out there," he said on Tuesday. "I didn't really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats. I have a lot of threats that you don't know about."

The secret switch happened just a day after the US renewed military strikes on Iran following the collapse of negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

Here is how it reportedly played out, per cbinews.tv:

Trump had arrived in Turkey on a newer Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar, but said he would leave on the old Air Force One "for old time's sake". Footage from 8 July showed him boarding at Ankara airport.

But according to the Washington Post, he then slipped off on the opposite side of the aircraft onto a catering truck that had been raised to door level. He was driven across the tarmac to a smaller C-32A military aircraft, a modified Boeing 757 often used by the vice-president.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly boarded the C-32A separately using external stairs to make the flight look routine.

Meanwhile, journalists and some White House staff were boarding Air Force One and were told to close their window shades. A media pool producer on board said they found it strange, and that a photographer who briefly opened a shade was quickly told to shut it.

They also noted there were two catering trucks at the front and back of the plane, and the media van was held too far back in the motorcade to actually photograph the president boarding.

To keep up the deception, the C-32A flew under the call sign "Reach 18", while the jet carrying the press continued to use "AF1".

Trump then flew to the UK, where he reboarded the old Air Force One and was seen descending from it after landing at RAF Mildenhall. It remains unclear how he transferred back. He then switched again to the Qatari-donated jet for the flight back to Washington.

During that flight, when asked why reporters were told to lower their shades on the flight from Turkey, he said: "Because you're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags we have to deal with."

He added that he has a "threat all the time" on his life and that he is "number one" on Iran's "list".

The move has drawn criticism. Jose Zamora, regional director for the Americas for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the Trump administration "has a responsibility to ensure that journalists covering the president are not unnecessarily exposed to danger".

"Reporters should be informed of credible security threats so they can make informed decisions about their safety," he added.

Credit: cbinews.tv

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