'This Is a Cover Story': Leon Panetta Says Trump Is Hiding the True Reason Behind Air Force One Switch [View all]

Source: MEDIAite

Jul 8th, 2026, 3:30 pm


Former CIA Director Leon Panetta wasn’t buying President Donald Trump‘s excuse for switching planes for his journey home from the NATO Summit in Turkey. On Wednesday, Shawn McCreesh of The New York Times asked Trump during a news conference in Ankara why he wasn’t flying the much-ballyhooed new Air Force One home.

The $400 million jet was a gift from the Qatari government and has long prompted security concerns. “It’s flying to Europe to one of the big bases, two or three of the big bases where we can show it to the people,” Trump said. “And we’ll be going home by normal methods. But we, we have it going to Europe to a couple of bases, actually one in particular, but it’s going to go to a couple of bases so the soldiers can see it because it’s truly magnificent.”

Panetta, who served under President Barack Obama, appeared on MS NOW’s The Moment with Katy Tur Wednesday — and he wasn’t buying it:

LEON PANETTA: You know, I’ve always been concerned about security issues with this kind of plane that’s built by another country, regardless of the fact that that country, we may have good relations with that country. The fact is that for from a security point of view, you have got to be concerned that there are going to be efforts to try to gather intelligence.