Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remained aboard the plane that President Donald Trump exited last month due to an alleged Iranian threat during the NATO summit in Turkey.
Trump secretly exited the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One and boarded a different plane — the older, 1990s-era Air Force One — in order to evade the threat, according to a U.S. official. Trump was transferred between the planes in a catering truck to avoid detection, along with White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, Executive Assistant Natalie Harp and Oval Office Operations Director Walt Nauta. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also joined Trump on the secret flight, traveling from Ankara to the United Kingdom.
Rubio and Bessent, who were aware Trump had secretly transferred to another plane, stayed on the decoy flight along with White House aides Stephen Miller, Will Scharf, Steven Cheung, Mike Needham, Ross Worthington and Monica Crowley.
The White House did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment about the passengers aboard either plane.
Journalists traveling as part of the White House press pool and several White House staffers also remained on the decoy flight and were not told about the threat.
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Jake Traylor is a White House correspondent for MS NOW.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
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