National Defense

Israel Claimed Iran Was Targeting Trump, But The CIA Isn’t Buying It

Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The CIA reportedly had “low confidence” in Israeli intelligence claims that Iran was going to attack Air Force One.

Israeli intelligence informed U.S. intelligence officials of the supposed Iranian threat — but CIA analysts were skeptical of the country’s claims, The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing anonymous current and former U.S officials.

After officials were informed of the threat, President Donald Trump was moved off Air Force One and onto a smaller military aircraft in a clandestine evacuation, according to the officials cited by the Post. The alleged threat came as Trump was leaving the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey on July 8.

The threats were “Israeli-derived, not U.S.-generated, and viewed as low confidence,” the Post reported, citing an anonymous U.S. official.

The CIA, the White House, the Israeli Embassy in Washington, the Turkish Embassy in Washington and the State Department all did not respond to requests for comment by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Questions are circulating about the safety of the new Air Force One jet, which was given to Trump as a gift from Qatar.

“The ​standard Air Force One fleet carries a sophisticated suite of protections, including anti-missile systems, but the White House appears to have accepted a lower baseline of protection for the Qatari jet in order to get it flying quickly,” Douglas Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said according to Reuters.

As Trump fled from Air Force One, he left behind key staffers, including White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Trump announced Leavitt was stepping down from her position as White House press secretary shortly after news of the alleged Iranian threat broke — leading online speculators to claim that she left because of the situation.

“I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that Karoline Leavitt resigned as White House press secretary after being an unwitting decoy on Air Force One,” independent journalist Alex Cole said in an X post on Tuesday.

Trump was seen with anti-air units following him as he played golf on Aug. 9 at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey, according video footage posted to social media.

The president has faced multiple assassination attempts since 2024, including the July 13, 2024 shooting at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman opened fire on him from a nearby rooftop.

Two months later, Secret Service agents thwarted another attempt at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where Ryan Wesley Routh positioned himself with a rifle along the course before being discovered by an agent. Another assassination attempt on Trump took place at the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25.

“It’s really just up to Secret Service. I just follow what they like to do,” Trump said Aug. 11 at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. “They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety. … I do what they say.”