DODGING CROSSHAIRS: Reports reveal Trump's decoy in evading Iran's threat

A new report says President Trump evaded. an alleged Iranian assassination plot. last month by secretly switching planes. He was whisked away in an airport. catering truck and the White House is. not denying this. Jackie Heinrich with. more details at the White House, Jackie. >> Harris, the day this reportedly. happened, the White House made no. mention of the threat to the president's. life, but led the press to believe they. would be traveling alongside the. president on the legacy Air Force One,

the old Air Force One, so the new Qatari. jet could be shown off to US troops. stationed [music] in Britain. After. boarding in Turkey, they were told to. keep their window shades down and that's. when the Washington Post reports. President Trump was taken off the plane, loaded onto a catering truck, and put on. another plane, an Air Force C-32A, and. quote, "That made Air Force One a decoy. with media and some White House staff. aboard," the official said. "We've just. reviewed archive footage from that day. and you can see the catering truck. behind the old Air Force One before.

takeoff." When the press landed in the. UK to refuel, the Post reports Trump was. loaded back onto the plane and that's. when reporters asked him why they were. told to keep their window shades closed. >> Do you know why they had us close our. our window blinds? That was. >> Well, yeah, because. you're. you know, probably in a dangerous way because of. these these bags over here. >> Were you aware of any credible threat by. Iran against your. >> Well, I have a credible threat on the. plane.

I'm number one on their list. before you. But if I go, you go. >> Mhm. >> Right? >> There is some historical precedent for. concealing the president's whereabouts. during critical threats, but in those. past situations, the administrations. revealed the president's whereabouts. either to the pool as it happened or. after the fact. Neither happened in this. situation as it is reported. White House. communications director Steven Cheung. told 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. President Trump. has faced several attempts on his life. including most recently at the White. House Correspondents Dinner. Harris. >> Yeah, I'm looking at that list about. about every two or three months he faces. at least two on record. July 24th being. the first obviously in Butler, Pennsylvania, but the list is long. unfortunately, but a blessing. He is still there. Jackie, thank you. >> Stunning new reporting involving.

President Trump and his team pulling off. a quote deception operation to avoid a. quote credible threat on the president's. life. Uh this threat came from Iran. It was. while he was in Turkey. We all remember. the plane switch that happened around. this time, but now the Washington Post. is reporting that on July 8th in full. view of the cameras the president. boarded the plane. for a flight departing Turkey, but he. was then secretly whisked off that plane. into a catering truck according to their.

reporting that transported him to a. waiting military plane and these are. images of the truck that day that is. based on the Washington Post reporting. So with that we bring in retired. four-star General Jack Keane, Fox News. senior strategic analyst, former vice. chief of staff of the Army and now. chairman of the Institute for the Study. of War. General, always good to have you. with us. Your reaction to this plot and. to the means that were used to deflect. it. >> Yeah, well well first of all I I regret.

that we're even talking about it. We're. only talking about it obviously because. people in the know, government officials. are willing to talk to the media and. give them this information and and. that's really unfortunate, but. listen uh. obviously. we believe this is the Iranian threat. and they have in the past. we have detected their plans and. fortunately we've been able to disrupt. those plans. Not just against president. or presidents, but against.

Saudi ambassador once, other government. officials here. That that's the work of. our counterintelligence agencies in. doing that and they're really quite. excellent led here by certainly the FBI. themselves. But this threat uh. looks like it was obviously against the. airplane and what would that look like? Well, first of all, the fact that the president is coming. out of Turkey. Obviously, Turkey is a. European country, but also a Middle East. country. Border is right there uh.

on the precipice of the Middle East. >> Mhm. >> And the the Iranians likely believe they. had better access, you know, as a result. of all of that. So, what would be the. means? The it could be a a missile, ground-to-air missile, shoulder-fired or. actually something else delivered, but. more likely shoulder-fired. It's easier. to conceal it. Uh a drone or actually another airplane, a suicide airplane. But you know, for. our viewers to understand here, the president's airplane flies in an air. defense bubble the entire time. And that.

aircraft is absolutely protected uh. wherever that bubble is. But if they had. a credible threat and a plan, they're. not going to take the chance to wait and. to on that air defense bubble and they. did. obviously the intelligent thing, they. moved the air moved the president off. the plane itself. >> Yeah, but. >> But that plane obviously still flew in. that air defense bubble. >> That's. >> and was protected. >> Understood. >> likely disrupted this plan. >> Which is obviously obviously a big plus.

And now here's what Jake Tapper said. about this cuz it does raise this. obvious question. Obviously, the life of. the president is paramount and previous. White Houses have used this option to. protect the president's life, but no. officials I've spoken to have ever heard. of using Air Force One full of White. House staff and journalists as a decoy. during an imminent threat. Um, what's. your reaction to the fact that the. staff, the White House staff and the. reporters were still on the plane uh. that took off?

>> Well, we don't know that that threat was. still. as active as it looks like. I think it. may have been precautionary in a sense. Um, in terms of disrupting the threat like I. indicated. >> Mhm. >> I I don't think that was the purpose of. it. They what they needed to do they. wanted to get the president out of there. just like we would move a president out. of a building quickly. We would take a. president off a route if we knew it was. going to be interfered with, there was. going to be a bomb or something out. there. We're going to move the president.

away from the threat and that's what. they did and that was the appropriate. thing to do. >> Yeah, it it's very unnerving. I mean, uh. obviously this president has seen more. threats against his life than I believe. any other president. And you said. something to me when we spoke the other. day that as we get closer to the. midterms Iran will become more violent. because they understand the pressure of. the midterms, the political pressure. that the president and his party face. right now and they're working it to.

their advantage. >> Yeah, well, that's one of the reasons. that Iranians believe they have the. upper hand here. And obviously they. still have influence over the Straits of. Hormuz and. it [snorts] and that they acquired that. on April the 7th when we went to a. ceasefire and we're 4 months into it and. we're still trying to work out some kind. of a deal here where the straits are. truly open to freedom of navigation and. no interference whatsoever. Remains to. be seen if that will ever be achieved. peacefully, but that is that is the.

intent. But I as we move closer despite. the the success of the economic. blockade, I've always felt that the. people running the country don't care. that much about their own people. suffering here. What they really care. about is staying in power and the. influence they believe they have over. this administration moving towards the. midterms. I'm convinced listen just in. the last few weeks they've conducted 22. attacks. >> Yeah. >> And as we get closer, I think they we. run the risk of the frequency may.

increase, but also the purpose of the. attack and the violence of the attack. may also. And the reason for that is clearly they. in their minds they think the closer. they get to the midterm elections in. terms of their actions, the less. likelihood the president to respond. militarily against them. Now listen, you would think by now that. all this time that this regime has been. dealing with our president that they.

would learn a little bit from their. miscalculation that they've done in the. past and it's been quite considerable. He has all the cards here. I believe the. best card to play is a combination of. all the economic levers that we're using. the blockade, what Secretary Besson is. doing with sanctions and other things. he's doing is quite remarkable and also. military power. And I do think change. takes place as a result of that. >> Thank you General. Always great to have. you with us. Thank you very much.

>> Great talking to you Martha. >> You as well sir General. >> In the news a recent report claims that. President Trump evaded an alleged. Iranian assassination plot last month in. Turkey. The country, not the food. Sandra, by pulling the old switcheroo. secretly swapping planes then getting. shuttled to the decoy one in an airport. catering truck. Which is how I get away from kill me at. work. >> [laughter]. >> Naturally the left is dishing out the. outrage. Roll it Lars.

>> This is very unusual the way they. approached this and the secrecy around. it. >> Every 12 hours it's a roller coaster. which is no way to conduct sensitive. diplomacy. He's lost control of the. situation. >> It is unprecedented and it is surreal as. Dan has just said, but it's also. downright scary. This war has made. the world less safe. >> This is not about national security. It's about Donald Trump's ego. Donald Trump was embarrassed that he. could not keep his Qatari plane.

>> You know, uh I love how they say how. Brian how unusual it's secret. >> It's a roller coaster, but that's what. happens when you demonize a president. >> That's true. >> He's taking an enormous risk just going. outside. >> I mean to his golf course. In California. they just had a gunman just on his golf. course the other day and then what they. had one as at a Mar-a-Lago about 3. months ago. So it it just stands to. reason there might be some type of. threat when he goes to Turkey-A, by the. way. They decided mid-range to change. the name of their country. We should.

think about that. >> Wait a minute, they did? >> Yeah, it's Turkey-A. >> Are you kidding me? >> Yeah, well which we can look it up. It's. Harold if you don't mind while I finish. this. >> Can you introduce information like that. into the show without us knowing it? [laughter]. >> I know it's a fact. I'm just a guest. here. You got to be nicer. >> This isn't possible. >> [laughter]. >> Is it Is it really Turkey-A? >> Turkey-A. >> When did this happen? >> I I was supposed to tell you. It was my. fault. I I blame myself. If we can get a. globe for this man, he could understand. exactly where to locate it. >> A globe? >> Yeah, if you don't mind. [laughter].

That's I don't use it. >> That was good. >> Yeah, I yeah I I don't use Waze. I use a. globe. >> You have You have a globe on your. passenger seat of your car? >> I think I'm lost. Take a spin and we go. Start in the Arctic and just head way. down, which by the way is melting. More. on that later. But this is it does not. surprise me. Remember they tried to. assassinate George H.W. Bush 41 when he. went over after the Iraq war. So that. that's what they do. They try to kill. We try to kill American leaders sadly. and the world tries to kill American. leaders. A lot of people resent that. we're great. And and this president of.

course is a target. Having said that, I. think this is a small part of the story. I think the real story is what we do. next in Iran. I think the president's. going to put the economic squeeze on. him. I think their misery index is up to. 91%. I'll fill that in, Greg. The misery. index goes up every time I walk by your. office. I understand that. So, I'll just. help you out with that for a little bit. later. So, I would. >> You're not writing your own insults. >> [laughter]. >> I understand I made this monologue. If I. could just preview that, so that is good. to know. So, just my my point is this. I think. we're going to end up in a kinetic war. to finish this thing off before Labor.

Day because the Iranians need to. understand who the superpower is. >> to switch a rule on the topic? >> Yeah, but I That does make a good point. I hate to say that cuz it is Kilmeade. [laughter]. Uh it does I like for for Sandra, it's. like. it is kind of it says something that. Iran can still has the agency to. engineer plots when they're essentially. have been decapitated. >> That's why why I'm left boggled when the. media says that they, you know, this is. so unusual that they didn't feel in the. media. This is the most targeted US.

president in the history of the country. We know that to be a fact. We should all. cheer on the safety of our president, and we should allow uh the security and. the Secret Service to do everything that. they have to do to ensure the. president's safety. It reminds me a. little bit of Taylor Swift in the middle. of the Eras Tour when she's going to the. Chiefs game. Do you remember Do you. remember when they were sneaking her out. in the popcorn cart? Twice. They did it. again in in the. >> real? I thought that was a That. >> Very real. >> Okay. >> Do whatever it takes to keep Taylor. Swift happy she has those Eras Tour.

concerts. Um but nonetheless, the media. outrage is crazy on this. Do what you. got to got to do to keep the president. safe. >> Hurl, can you work Taylor Swift into. your answer about. >> [laughter]. >> deadly serious topic that Sandra. apparently doesn't care about? >> Well, first of all, I give the Secret. Service tremendous credit. This kind of. a James Bond effort to ensure that the. president. >> Amen. >> safety was guaranteed. We give them. credit. But I But I do understand why if. you were left on that plane, um you would be upset. Um there probably.

needs to be a better protocol because. you just don't You don't put Even if you. don't like reporters, you don't like the. people, you don't leave them on on a. plane like that. I think that's that's a. concern, a legitimate concern, and maybe. they can take take that up. But, Brian I. think raises. um the the equally important point. This. is about Iran. We have lost a lot of. leverage with Iran. We need to admit. that. Uh to the to the points that. Sandra and uh Brian were making, we were. told what we had decimated so much of. their abilities. How then could they if. we've decimated all of these abilities,

how then could they shoot down uh the. flying White House if they didn't have. some capabilities left? I think Brian is. right. I think the economic squeeze has. to be put on. But, we in the country and. we've been saying this on this show now. for many weeks, we have to make a determination about. two things. One, what is it that we. want? We've said regime change, we've. said ballistic missile, incapacitate. that ability. Incapacitate their ability or excuse me, capacitate their ability to provide. money to proxies and for the nuclear.

And then finally, the thing that we. really want, we should all be clear. about if we got it today, would be the. opening of the Straits of Hormuz, and. everything would be be on a level. If once the president makes that. determination, then I think you can. organize a strategy around trying to. execute. But, if you're every day it's a. multiple choice of what you want, it's. very difficult. Now, remind everybody, the president just a few days ago said. that we will level the place. And then it's a few days since he said. we should. That's a kind of objective and strategy. and execution you can't have if you're. going to squeeze economically. And I.

agree with Brian, and I hate to say. this, to do the things we want to do. there before the election, we will. likely have to put troops on the ground. And I don't believe there's an appetite. in the country for that. There's. certainly not one now, but maybe if the. president shares with the country why. it's necessary, how long it he believes. it will take, and prepare the country. for the kind of toll it could pose on. us, maybe we we it. But, this country is. not ready for that kind of approach. >> plans without using troops on the. ground. >> It's just up to my sense to pull the. trigger. >> You may be right. They are planned, but. there are also plans about putting. troops on the ground also that you and I.

both know about. >> Emily, last word to you. >> So, I talked to Jeff James. He was a. former presidential Secret Service. supervisory agent for five presidents. >> That's pretty nice. >> He's amazing. And this is what he had to. say. He said, "Bruises happen all the. time, especially overseas." So, I. remember George Bush came out of a C-20. unmarked plane. The difference there. being he came out of it exposing the. decoy, and they had told the press off. the record prior. So, now the fact that. the press is up in arms that they. weren't told though, he said it's called.

secret for a reason. So, if there's. credible intelligence, which is the. touchstone and the keystone of all of. these kinds of things, then you do. whatever it takes to get the president. off of whatever has been threatened, including an amazing catering cart. And. he said, uh. he was reminded as well, uh George Bush. he being it's a need-to-know thing. So, George Bush in the middle of the night. was secreted to see the troops, believe. over Thanksgiving. Uh even other agents. weren't told. So, they were there at his.

ranch in Waco, and he said, you know, "We just thought he was sleeping." He. said, "You don't take it personally. That's part of the job. You need to know. whoever does and whoever doesn't, that's. why." I mean, even the families don't. know. That's why they all sign NDAs when. they're going on these trips. So, it's. so laughable to me that members of the. media think that they have some type of. expectation of or classified. expectation of of knowing this when. since 1979, what, one in six American. combat deaths have been at the hands of. Iran? We've prosecuted how many.

attempted assassination plots in this. country, including against DJT? Like, the the the number speak for itself. itself. So, no, it did not just start. happening because of the never-ending. war in Iran right now under this. president. And also, there is no way. that they're going to tell them. Plus, to me, you guys think visually that it. looked like. 2014 NFC Championship Seahawks Packers. that sick trick play? Anyone? Where like. the holder like tossed it to the one guy. on the left and then he like tossed it. to the rookie and they won the game. >> Well, thank god nothing happened to. those reporters on that plane though.

>> [clears throat]. >> Thank god nothing happened to our. president most importantly. And them too but I'm just saying. >> Thank god nothing has happened to Taylor. Swift. >> [laughter]. >> We're getting some new info right now. about a reported switcheroo for. President Trump last month as he. returned from the NATO summit in Turkey. Jackie Heinrich is reporting live with. the new details from the White House. Hey Jackie. >> Hey Sandra. Well, the day this. reportedly happened the White House made. no mention of the threat to the. president's life but led reporters to.

believe that they would be flying with. the president on Air Force One the old. Air Force One so that the new Qatari jet. could be shown off to US troops. stationed in Britain but after boarding. in Turkey they were told to keep their. window shades down and that's the what. when the Washington Post reports the. president was taken off the plane loaded. onto a catering truck and put on another. plane in Air Force C-32A and quote that. made Air Force One a decoy with media. and some White House staff aboard the. official said. And we've just reviewed. archive footage from that day and you.

can see the catering truck behind the. old Air Force One before takeoff. When. the press landed in the UK to refuel the. post reports Trump was loaded back onto. the plane and that is when reporters. asked him why they were told to keep. their window shades closed. Now there is. some historical precedent for concealing. the president's whereabouts during times. of critical threats but in those. situations the administration revealed. what was going on either in real time to. the press traveling with the president. or after the fact. Neither of those. happened in this situation as it is. reported. Sandra.

>> Hey everyone, I'm Emily Compagno. Catch. me and my co-host Harris Faulkner and. Kayleigh McEnany on Outnumbered every. weekday at 12:00 p.m. Eastern or set. your DVR. Also, don't forget to. subscribe to the Fox News YouTube page. for daily highlights.