Democrat criticizes Trump's Air Force One switch as 'despicable incident of disrespect'

US intelligence officials reportedly harbored doubts about Israeli warnings of potential Iranian assassination threats against US President Donald Trump, according to a Thursday Washington Post report citing current and former US officials. One official stated that CIA analysts who received the Israeli intel were skeptical and deemed it unconvincing, describing the threats as "Israeli-derived, not US-generated, and viewed as low confidence."

Other intelligence officials accused Israel of merely disseminating the warnings to exert influence over Trump's decision-making in the region, with one official claiming the alert "fit a broader pattern of Israeli intelligence reporting that some officials see as designed as much to shape presidential decision-making as to inform it."

Despite the allegations, the US Secret Service took the threat to Trump's life seriously, initiating an operation to obfuscate his travel plan. "The Secret Service has had three near misses with this president, so they're not taking any chances," one official told the Washington Post. "They did what they had to do." When questioned about the matter on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that such security decisions were made by the Secret Service and that he followed their guidance.

"They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, for safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I do it. I do what they say."