US intel officials assessed threat to Trump was not credible ahead of Air Force One switch: Sources
U.S. intelligence agencies had raised doubts about whether there really was an Iranian plot to target Air Force One before the extraordinary step was taken to secretly move President Trump off his airplane and on to another one to protect him from the suspected Iranian attack, sources told ABC News.
The intelligence pointing to an Iranian plot to target Air Force One with a shoulder-fired missile originated with Israel, which passed it to the United States as Trump prepared to leave Ankara, Turkey, according to the sources.
Israeli officials had not had time to fully vet the information or reach their own determination about how credible the intelligence was, the sources said, but chose to share it given how quickly the president was set to depart.
U.S. intelligence agencies raised doubts about the intel, the sources said, adding that the U.S. ultimately deemed it not to indicate a serious or immediate threat.
But the Secret Service decided it could not take a chance on even the possibility of a threat and recommended enhanced security for the president’s departure, which resulted in him being moved to another military aircraft aboard that catering truck, the sources said.
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters he was following Secret Service's direction. "It's only up to Secret Service. I just follow what they'd like to do," he said.
"So I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane. Equal safety. But they wanted me to do it, so I do it. I do what they say," Trump said.
Trump has been a top target of Iran’s leadership since he ordered the airstrike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in early 2020, and sources have indicated a particular sensitivity surrounding threats directed at the president from Iran and its proxies.
"I don't think it's any secret, it's been in the media, that Iran has publicly said they want to kill President Trump," Deputy Director of the U.S. Secret Service Matt Quinn told reporters at an event last month.
U.S. and Turkish authorities continued investigating the potential missile threat after Trump departed the NATO summit, but did not uncover evidence of an operational plot, according to one official.
The Washington Post previously reported that the CIA had “low confidence” in an Iranian assassination threat against Trump shared by Israel.
The CIA has declined to comment on the matter.
