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Rubio and Bessent stayed on decoy flight from Turkey as Trump switched planes, official says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The two most senior members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were the highest-ranking members of President Donald Trump's Cabinet who flew out of the NATO summit in Turkey on what was essentially a decoy plane, according to a senior U.S. official. The official, who wished to remain anonymous while discussing sensitive details of presidential travel, revealed that Trump secretly shifted to a smaller military jet.

Both Rubio and Bessent were reportedly aware of the switch, but Rubio's reasons for staying on the plane were unclear. The official noted that security protocols for the president, especially considering his history of assassination attempts, are far more stringent than those for top Cabinet officials. President Trump initially traveled to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, aboard a newly gifted and retrofitted red, white, and navy blue Air Force One aircraft.

However, he decided to fly part of the way back on an older model of Air Force One, stating that the newer jet would be tested by some U.S. troops based in eastern England.

Written by urgent.news from Associated Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.

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