Trump Explains Switch Back to Old Air Force One Amid Security Scrutiny

President Donald Trump has explained why he switched back to the old Air Force One rather than the Qatari-gifted jet amid scrutiny over security concerns and an alleged lack of defense systems on the retrofitted aircraft.

Trump told reporters Wednesday he was taking the older plane home “for old time’s sake” while the $400 million jet will tour an air force base housing U.S. troops.

But the president deflected questions about the safety of the newly acquired jet, which is not equipped with at least some of the same missile detection and countermeasures systems as its predecessor, according to images reviewed by the Associated Press.

When asked later Wednesday en route to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland after leaving this week’s NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, what the security concern was that caused Trump to switch plans, the president denied there was one.

One reporter then asked why they were told to close their window blinds on the plane, and Trump said, “Because you’re probably on a dangerous flight,” alluding to threats from Iran.

When asked if Trump was aware of any credible threat by Iran against Air Force One, Trump said, “Well, I have a threat all the time. I’m No. 1 on their list, before you. But if I go, you go. Perhaps someday you want to change professions.”

The swap followed a fresh round of retaliatory U.S. strikes in Iran, which shares a border with Turkey, after the president declared that what remains of a fragile ceasefire in the months-long war is “over.”

At a press conference in Ankara earlier Wednesday, Trump again said he was at the top of Iran’s kill list.

“I don’t really care because I’m doing my job … But I’m No. 1 on the list for killing,” he said.

In a statement to The Independent, White House communications director Steven Cheung said the new jet is a “state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff.

“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— including distraction and misdirection— to address those threats,” he added.

The president repeatedly stated throughout his remarks at the NATO summit that he believed Iran was trying to assassinate him.

In 2020, Trump launched an airstrike near Baghdad International Airport that killed Qassem Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, after he had survived several assassination attempts from western, Israeli and Arab states over the past two decades.

The strike, which was planned over several months, ignited fierce blowback across the region, denounced by Iran’s foreign minister at the time as an act of international terrorism. By 2024, U.S. intelligence officials had reportedly collected evidence they believe shows Tehran was seeking ways to kill then-candidate Trump.

Federal prosecutors later announced charges against at least two other men accused of trying to carry out murder-for-hire plots targeting U.S. government officials, including Trump.

Last year, Trump said Iran would be “obliterated” if he was assassinated by state actors.

“That would be a terrible thing for them to do,” he told reporters in February 2025. “Not because of me. If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end. I’ve left instructions: if they do it, they get obliterated. There won’t be anything left.”

In his remarks to NATO, Trump recounted the toll of U.S. strikes in Iran over the last several months before adding that he also might be “gone” if the war continues.

“They had leaders. They’re gone, and they had another set of leaders. They’re gone,” he said.

“Now they have another set of leaders, they may be gone, who knows, and you know what, I may be gone too, because I’m their No. 1 target,” he added.

As he prepared for his departure from Turkey, Trump boarded an older Boeing VC-25A that has carried presidents for nearly four decades.

The plane donated by Qatar, a Boeing 747 retrofitted with $400 million in improvements, is decked out with Trump’s signature color scheme — navy blue with red and gold stripes — as well as plush carpets, wood paneling and details including the presidential seal on seatbelts.

According to the White House, the plane is “safe, secure and equipped with the most advanced technologies necessary to meet the requirements of the presidential mission.”

“Those requirements were carefully crafted to prioritize mission over aesthetics, leaving much of the previous head of state interior layout minimally changed,” according to a press release about the updates. “No risk was taken in security, safety or mission communications, but the collective team made trades on some of the less commonly used mission sets that Boeing must deliver to support the next 40 years.”

The aircraft is ostensibly a temporary placeholder between the president’s older model Boeing fleet and newer planes that aren’t expected to be ready until the end of Trump’s term, at the earliest.

But Trump intends to keep the plane after he leaves office — inside his planned presidential library.

The president has acknowledged that getting the jet into the lobby of a hotel-like skyscraper in Miami is going to be a “trick.” That’s even if the plan survives scrutiny from Democratic members of Congress mulling investigations after the president’s acceptance of the plan sounded ethical, legal, security and counterintelligence alarms.

Rachel Dobkin contributed to this report.