Doug Mills Says Trump Staged Air Force One Exit After 2-Plane Iran Threat Operation
Updated
Updated · PetaPixel · Aug 17
Doug Mills Says Trump Staged Air Force One Exit After 2-Plane Iran Threat Operation
2 articles · Updated · PetaPixel · Aug 17
Summary
Doug Mills said he unknowingly photographed a staged image of Donald Trump exiting Air Force One in the U.K. after the president had secretly switched to another aircraft following a July 8 NATO trip from Turkey.
Secret Service intelligence about an Iran-linked threat drove the covert move, with Trump reportedly whisked off the original plane in a catering truck while the press corps and even cabinet members remained unaware.
Mills, 66, said the only clue was an order to keep window shades down during the flight, a security step he had previously seen only on a 2014 Obama trip into Afghanistan.
The veteran New York Times photographer said the episode showed the risk level was unusually high and that the press pool had effectively been used as a decoy without knowing it.