The Ankara switch
Leaving the NATO summit in Ankara in July 2026, Donald Trump boarded the older Air Force One in full view of cameras. Minutes later he was moved to a smaller Air Force C-32A using an airport catering truck, reportedly because of an Iranian threat against Air Force One. The newer, Qatari-gifted jet wasn't used for that leg. Reporters and some staff believed they were traveling with the president. At RAF Mildenhall in England, he was seen getting off the original Air Force One, suggesting he'd been moved back aboard it out of sight. The White House didn't directly address the report when asked.
Who made the switch and who didn't: aides Dan Scavino, Natalie Harp, and Walt Nauta reportedly went with Trump in the catering truck, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined them on the C-32A soon after, climbing in by its own external stairs. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stayed behind on the decoy plane, reportedly so that officials in the presidential line of succession weren't all riding on the same aircraft, along with the press corps and other staff who didn't know a switch had happened at all.
Footnote: Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who'd recently returned from maternity leave with a newborn, was reportedly among the staff aboard the decoy plane, per CBS News.