US President Donald Trump was secretly moved to a smaller aircraft during his return from Turkey last month after the Secret Service received what it said was a credible missile threat, but US intelligence officials later expressed doubt about the warning's reliability.
The larger presidential plane was used as a decoy, and the operation was kept secret to conceal the president's movements from potential attackers, according to reports. Trump flew from Ankara to a refueling stop in Britain without incident. He told reporters on Tuesday that the switch was made at the direction of the Secret Service.
The threat was relayed by the Israeli government to the CIA and involved an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Trump, the reports say. However, US intelligence analysts had low confidence in the information and conveyed their doubts to the Trump administration. One official described the reports as Israeli-derived and of low confidence, not generated by US intelligence.
Some US intelligence officials also said Israel's warning appeared designed less to inform the US about a genuine threat and more to influence Trump's decision-making and US policy in the region.
The secret switch was first reported by The Washington Post.