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The U.S. intelligence agency, the CIA, had serious doubts about an Israeli warning regarding a possible Iranian assassination attempt on President Donald Trump. Nevertheless, the report last month led to an extraordinary security operation, during which Trump secretly switched planes after the NATO summit in Turkey.
According to current and former U.S. officials who spoke with The Washington Post, CIA analysts did not find the information convincing enough. One U.S. official described the warning as “coming from Israel, not the United States” and having a “low level of reliability.” According to the newspaper, these doubts were relayed to officials in the Trump administration. Nevertheless, the U.S. Secret Service took no chances. On July 8, after the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump was first seen boarding the older Air Force One. Shortly afterward, he exited the aircraft through a different exit and was transported in a catering van across the airport tarmac to a C-32A, a smaller military aircraft based on the Boeing 757. The aircraft on which Trump had initially been seen then departed on schedule. On board were White House reporters and several of the president’s staff members, who reportedly did not know that Trump had already transferred to another aircraft. As a result, the plane unintentionally served as a diversion. Escorted by F-16s, the C-32A flew Trump to the British Royal Air Force base at Mildenhall. There, he later transferred to the new Boeing 747-8 that Qatar had donated to the United States.
Iranian threat
The nature of the threat has not been officially disclosed. U.S. officials spoke of a possible Iranian attack, but reports do not indicate that a concrete attack was actually being planned. Trump did confirm that he changed planes in Turkey and said he was following the instructions of his security detail. According to Reuters, he stated that he is under constant threat.
The revelation has since raised questions about the reliability of the Israeli intelligence and why Washington gave the warning such weight. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen is seeking more clarity on the matter. Furthermore, some U.S. officials suspect that Israel was also attempting to influence U.S. policy toward Iran with the report.
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