Reporters confront Trump's chilling game of smoke and mirrors

Reporters raise their hands during a press briefing with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at the White House in Washington, D.C., March 10, 2026.

Last week, one of the top news stories was the U.S. Secret Service's use of a decoy plane in Turkey in response to a reported Iranian assassination plot against President Donald Trump — who, according to the New York Times and the Washington Post, wasn't really on the Air Force One plane that Trump officials said he was on. Now, Jacqui Heinrich, president of the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA), is speaking candidly about the decoy plane and the implications for the press.

"It was a shock to learn," Heinrich told New York Magazine's Michael Calderone.

In New York Magazine, Calderone explains, "Heinrich, who serves as senior correspondent at Fox News and anchor of The Sunday Briefing, began her one-year term as president following last month's rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner, which she'll be in charge of next spring. I spoke to Heinrich about how she’s responding to the press being kept in the dark about the president's whereabouts."

Heinrich, during the interview, told Calderone, "There were a few concerns. My inclination is always to try to create solutions. We have seen through our experience — I've been on this board for two terms now — and especially under this administration, we tend to get better results when we're not fighting about it in the press and we're actually going to them, explaining our position and asking for solutions and trying to figure out why something happened and how it happened that way and what we can do about it."

Heinrich continued, "First, talk to the poolers who are on that plane to make sure that they are OK. Obviously, that can be a scary thing to learn about. And then talk to the managers of the outlets who represent our biggest organizations who have the most people pooling regularly to figure out what issues this raises for them."

Heinrich noted that she has been discussing these issues with fellow White House Correspondents' Association members.

"One thing that I spelled out in the letter to our members that leaked was that we don't want, as news organizations, to be unwittingly transmitting false information and then not have an opportunity afterward to correct the record," Heinrich told Calderone. "The reporters obviously were more concerned about having felt like they were in a threatening situation, and that's also a concern for their managers. Make sure that you represent both things in talking to the White House and figure out what’s practical and what we can do about that. We want to make sure that we have continuous coverage, independent coverage of the president."

Heinrich added, "I had a good conversation with the White House about all these points. They have a solid understanding of our position, and we're still continuing to work through that."

From Your Site Articles