Trump: I Was at 'Greater Risk' Than Decoy Air Force One

President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that his secret flight out of Turkey last month, which used a passenger-filled "decoy" Air Force One, was arranged by the Secret Service and the U.S. military — and that he believes he was in more danger than the people left aboard the decoy jet.

"It's only up to Secret Service. I just follow what they'd like to do," Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews after returning from a trip to Ohio.

"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," he said.

The switch was first reported by The Washington Post on Monday. Sources told ABC News that Trump was transferred from the old Air Force One to a military aircraft inside a catering container, an elaborate maneuver carried out without the knowledge of the traveling press and even some White House officials who stayed on the decoy flight.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were aboard the decoy plane, sources familiar with the matter said, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew with the president. All three Cabinet members knew about the switch, according to those sources.

Asked whether he had been briefed on a specific threat, Trump was dismissive. "I guess there was a threat out there. I didn't really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats," he said.

Pressed on the safety of those left on the decoy aircraft, Trump said the risk ran the other way. "I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk," he said. "I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that we — that they would be more likely to go for."

At the time, Trump said publicly that he would fly on the old Air Force One rather than the Qatari-gifted jet, which he said was going to a base in the United Kingdom so service members could tour it. ABC News reported then that he had been advised against using that plane over security concerns amid escalating tensions with Iran.

Reporters aboard the decoy flight were told the window shades had to stay closed for the entire trip under a Secret Service mandate. The aircraft's transponder was turned off, according to the Post.

"As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats," the White House said in a statement to ABC News.