TRUMP: ‘I WAS AT GREATER RISK’: In an exchange with reporters as he arrived in Ohio for his high school Patriot Games competition, President Donald Trump was asked a key question about his secret airplane swap in Turkey last month to foil a possible Iranian threat on his life.
“Why was it too dangerous for you to fly on Air Force One, but not for the press?” CBS correspondent Nancy Cordes asked.
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“I don’t know. I think, actually, the plane that I flew on was at greater risk. I think it was a greater risk. Because that would be the plane, I think, that we, that they would be more likely to go for,” Trump replied. “And it was really as per the military. And I just have to do what they say. Uh, they go for safety, and I have to do what they say.”
“It’s up to the Secret Service. I just follow what they’d like to do. So, I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane,” Trump said. “Equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I do it. I do what they say.”
Trump was still sticking to his cover story that the new luxury Air Force One was sent ahead to RAF Mildenhall because the troops there wanted to get eyes on it. “This one went over to England because the soldiers wanted to see it,” Trump claimed. “They showed it to the soldiers, and we did a switch over there.
Trump insisted he shrugs off the threats against his life and was unconcerned about the possibility that a missile could take down his plane. “I don’t worry about anything, to be honest, whatever it is. You know my attitude? Whatever,” he said. “I have a lot of threats. I have a lot of threats that you don’t know about. Any consequential president has a lot of threats. Nonconsequential presidents don’t get threats. And I think that I’m maybe the most consequential president.”
CUE THE DEMOCRATS: “The Senate should be immediately briefed on the Iranian threats against the President, the extraordinary measures taken to get him out of Turkey, any risks posed to U.S. personnel, and any threat to the homeland,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) posted on X. “It is unacceptable that Congress was kept in the dark and instead learned about this serious threat through press reports.”
“Trump has put America’s sons and daughters in harm’s way by getting into an unnecessary and reckless war, and this administration has repeatedly refused to provide Congress and the public with the transparency they deserve,” Schumer said. “This is exactly why Congress must reassert its constitutional authority and bring this conflict to an end.”
“The Secret Service should be credited with an evasive maneuver or, as they call it, a deceptive operation, to keep the president safe,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said on CNN. “But remember that there continued to be reporters and staff and military on the legacy Air Force One, which then flew without the president, and I’d like to know what was done to keep them safe.”
“I’m not aware of all the security details. I’m not going to second-guess decisions made by the commander on that scene. But the whole episode just underscores how much he’s lost control over the whole scenario in the Middle East,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) said on CNN. “I mean, this guy started an illegal war declaring regime change, and now he is the leader who’s scrambling. We’ve got the Strait of Hormuz turned into an Iranian river. We have prices skyrocketing here. We have the Mecca pact now, which is introducing nuclear weapons, not getting rid of nuclear enrichment in the Middle East. So, the president has failed. And this embarrassing episode just highlights it.”
WHY DOES ANYONE NEED TO KNOW? Did the White House violate a tacit agreement with the traveling press pool not to lie to them? Should reporters have been informed of the threat on an off-the-record basis, with no reporting until after the president was safely clear of the threat?
“If circumstances ever result in reporters unwittingly transmitting inaccurate or misleading information, there needs to be a way for the press to correct the record once the security concern has passed,” Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich — who is also president of the White House Correspondents’ Association — said in a memo to members. “This afternoon, I had a candid and productive meeting with senior administration officials to convey those concerns directly.”
“More broadly, I stressed that undermining confidence in the reliability of pool reports carries risks beyond any single incident,” Heinrich wrote. “In an already conspiratorial information environment, uncertainty about whether independent reporting can be trusted can be exploited by bad actors seeking to sow confusion and undermine confidence in journalism.”
Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary for President George W. Bush, argues that reporters know full well that traveling with the president carries inherent risks. “If there’s an attack on the motorcade, the secure package splits off and everyone else is on their own, from some WH staff to some military officials, all reporters and members of Congress,” Fleischer posted on X. “The safety of potus always comes first. We don’t complain. That’s the way it is.”
BREAKING DOWN THE AIRCRAFT INVOLVED IN TRUMP’S PLAN TO THWART IRANIAN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
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HAPPENING TODAY: War Secretary Pete Hegseth is in Panama, where he is meeting with Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino and senior officials from Colombia. He’s scheduled to deliver remarks at the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition Forum later today.
Hegseth will also meet with U.S. troops at Panama’s Jungle Operations Training Course and observe PANAMAX military exercises.
Hegseth’s “A3C” remarks will be livestreamed on the Pentagon’s website. No time has been given.
HEGSETH PUSHES FOR $1.5 TRILLION DEFENSE SPENDING PACKAGE DURING JOINT BASE LINDSEY GRAHAM CEREMONY
ZELENSKY SLAMS PUTIN’S ‘SHAM’ ELECTION: In what should come as a surprise to no one, Russia’s highest court has banned the only political party opposing President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine from running in next month’s parliamentary election.
Russia’s Central Election Commission had initially allowed Yabloko — Russian for “apple” — on the ballot, but after an appeal from a pro-Putin party, they were ordered removed.
“Putin wants war so badly that he has now resorted to yet another political manipulation with his sham elections, to the point that he was afraid to allow even a single party that said at least something about the need for peace on the ballot,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
“His priorities are crystal clear,” Zelensky said, warning that Ukrainian intelligence has obtained internal Russian documents that show as soon as the elections are over, Putin intends to begin drafting more soldiers to replace the 30,000 a month he’s currently losing in Ukraine.
“Putin’s plan is not particularly complicated. He wants to create the impression that Russians supposedly support the war — every party still permitted to run is, one way or another, against peace,” Zelensky said. “And then, after the so-called elections, he plans an additional rapid mobilization of several hundred thousand Russians by the end of the year, plus just as many more next year. This will be on top of the recruitment they are trying to carry out through contract enlistment.”
FEARING ANTI-WAR ELECTION EMBARRASSMENT, RUSSIA BANS ONLY OPPOSITION PARTY
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: US forces fire on ship trying to cross through Strait of Hormuz blockade
Washington Examiner: Wright claims Persian Gulf oil exports beat pre-war levels, far above outside estimates
Washington Examiner: Six killed in Houthis’ first lethal strike on Red Sea shipping
Washington Examiner: US killed 153 civilians in three strikes on Yemen in 2025: Pentagon
Washington Examiner: Breaking down the aircraft involved in Trump’s plan to thwart Iranian assassination attempt
Washington Examiner: Fearing anti-war election embarrassment, Russia bans only opposition party
Washington Examiner: Russia frees imprisoned US Marine over health concerns
Washington Examiner: Syria’s death sentence for Assad puts new strain on revamped relationship with Russia
Washington Examiner: ‘Cutting bureaucratic red tape’: Golden Dome office creates website for industry input
Washington Examiner: A maintenance man’s best friend: How robotic ‘drone dogs’ can help the Air Force maintain its fleet
Washington Examiner: US and allies demand 24-hour notice for ballistic missile launches after Chinese test
Washington Examiner: Tim Ballard’s group awarded $158 million contract to represent unaccompanied immigrant children
Washington Examiner: Elizabeth Warren partners with Mike Lee in push to curb defense CEO payouts
Washington Examiner: Hegseth pushes for $1.5 trillion defense spending package during Joint Base Lindsey Graham ceremony
AP: Trump Says Advisers Wanted Him Off Air Force One in Turkey Due to Threat
New York Times: With Trump Secretly Evacuated, Imperiled Air Force One Became a Flying Decoy
Washington Post: Reporter breaks 26-year silence on briefing that preceded Clinton’s plane swap
Navy Times: Multiple USS Abraham Lincoln sailors have tried to go overboard amid extended deployment, families say
AP: Putin threatens retaliation for Western seizures of Russian commercial vessels
Breaking Defense: ‘No Such Thing as a Regional Conflict Anymore,’ STRATCOM Chief Says
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Budget Instability Puts Golden Dome at Risk, Guetlein Warns
Breaking Defense: Laser Weapons for Space? US Officials See Threat, Opportunity
Defense News: Boeing Unveils Cheap Radar Seeker Built from Off-the-Shelf Parts
The War Zone: Hunt for New Mobile Missile Defense Radar Reinforced by Lessons from Iran War
Air & Space Forces Magazine: DARPA Looks to Develop Next-Generation Hypersonic Cruise Missile
DefenseScoop: Air Force Explores AI Tools to Predict Aircraft Failures, Strengthen Sustainment
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Wants a Drone Factory in a Box for Rapid, Remote Deployments
Defense One: Pentagon to Solicit Entrants for Next Giant Cloud-Service Contract Vehicle
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Bringing the Space Force into the Light
Air & Space Forces Magazine:
THE CALENDAR:
WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 12
TBA Somewhere in Panama — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivers remarks at the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (A3C) Forum. https://www.war.gov/News/Live-Events/
10 a.m. — Center for a New American Security virtual discussion: “An Uphill Climb: Pushing for an Inclusive Political Dialogue in Afghanistan,” with Geneva Nasir Andisha, permanent representative of Afghanistan to the U.N.; Palwasha Hassan, executive director, Mina’s List; and Annie Pforzheimer, adjunct senior fellow, CNAS Indo-Pacific Security Program https://events.cnas.org/politicaldialogueinafghanistan
6 p.m. 2021 14th St. NW — Busboys & Poets film screening and discussion of “Cuba After Castro: The Island in the Crosshairs,” with director Abby Martin (via Zoom) https://www.busboysandpoets.com/events/film-screening-cuba-after-castro
THURSDAY | AUGUST 13
10 a.m. — Hudson Institute discussion: “Six Months After Epic Fury: The State of the Conflict in the Gulf,” with Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran Program senior director and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies; Michael Doran, senior fellow and director at the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East; Ludovic Hood, senior fellow at the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East; and Zineb Riboua, research fellow at the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East https://www.hudson.org/events/six-months-after-epic-fury-state-conflict-gulf
FRIDAY | AUGUST 14
7:30 a.m. 11493 Sunset Hills Rd. Reston Va. — Government Executive Media Group discussion: “Beyond the Platform: Inside the Army and Navy’s Expanding Unmanned Systems Market,” with John Carbone, senior technical director for supporting government and critical infrastructure for Everfox; David Hutchins, director of defense technologies and naval systems for Forecast International; Erin Kocourek, vice president of business development and space for CACI; Matt Marsden, senior director of solutions consulting for Palo Alto Networks; former Assistant Defense Secretary for Space Policy John Plumb, head of strategy for K2 Space; Todd Stevens, vice president of mission strategies and advanced capabilities and strike, deterrence and missile defense for Lockheed Martin Space; and Nick Wakeman, editor-in-chief of Washington Technology
https://events.govexec.com/wt-power-breakfast-beyond-the-platform/
