‘That's not my job’: Trump’s secret aircraft swap sparks outrage from WH reporters left on board

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump is back in the spotlight after it emerged that White House reporters were left behind on one plane while Trump was secretly moved to another aircraft in Turkey.

The Washington Post reported that concerns over an Iranian threat prompted security officials to quietly move Trump to a different military plane on his way home from the NATO summit.

Meanwhile, the White House press corps and some staff members remained on the original plane, unaware that Trump had been relocated or why the switch had taken place.

White House reporters criticize Trump plane switch

"When you sign up to work at the White House, even as a civilian, part of your job is to defend the president," one White House reporter told The Washington Post, adding, "That's not my job. I cover the president. Reporters take risks as part of the job, but not on behalf of the president."

The incident has angered reporters who cover the president, particularly because the security concerns were serious enough to trigger a last-minute change to Trump's travel plans.

Another White House reporter told WaPo that while journalists accept certain risks as part of the job, the White House should not expose them to danger without their knowledge.

The incident unfolded as Trump departed Turkey following the July 8 NATO summit. He initially boarded a Boeing 747-8, an aircraft Qatar had gifted to the United States.

Officials then transferred him to the older Air Force One model before secretly moving him again, this time to a smaller C-32A military jet.

According to the report, security officials even used a catering truck to move Trump out of the airport before he flew to Britain under the escort of F-16 fighter jets.

The White House said Trump switched planes on the advice of the Secret Service and military officials.

How Bill Clinton handled decoy plane differently

This is not the first time a president has taken extraordinary measures to ensure their safety.

In March 2000, Susan Page, then a White House reporter for USA Today, was informed that a similar operation involving then-President Bill Clinton would take place, The Washington Post reported.

Before reporters and White House staff boarded a flight from India to Pakistan, White House officials informed Page, then president of the White House Correspondents' Association, about the security operation.

"They told me about the extraordinary security procedures being taken because of the dangers in flying there, including use of the decoy plane," Page said. "Of course, the dangers threatened the journalists covering the trip as well as President Clinton."

The key difference, according to the report, is that 25 years later, every reporter aboard Air Force One was left unaware of what officials considered a credible threat to their safety.

"I haven't spoken about this episode before, because of the off-the-record ground rules of that discussion," Page, now WaPo's Washington bureau chief, told the newspaper.

"But since more than a quarter-century has passed, and since the ruse became evident as soon as President Clinton disembarked in Pakistan, I think it's OK for me to relay it now."

"That the White House would lie to the press corps in its entirety about where the president is," journalist and historian Garrett Graff told The Washington Post, "That's a new Rubicon that's being crossed."

Trump's omission of the information to the press corps comes amid broader concerns over press freedom, including his administration's reported attempts to seize reporters' phone records and subpoena records belonging to their family members, according to court documents filed last month.