Flood of new White House leaks are unraveling Trump's cover stories

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media after disembarking Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., August 11, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

Even more leaks are emerging from President Donald Trump's administration, exposing some of the humiliating aspects of the story surrounding the gifted Qatari jet he flew to the NATO summit.

Speaking to press critic Margaret Sullivan on Thursday,The New Republic's Greg Sargent pointed out that the Wednesday reports revealed the president abandoning key members of his Cabinet and staff as a decoy for Iran. It was reported late Wednesday that U.S. intelligence never fully believed the threat intelligence to begin with.

The ordeal began when President Donald Trump was told of a credible threat from Iran on his life. Since Turkey shares a 350-mile border with Iran, the administration cooked up a scheme to hide the president in a catering truck and shift him over to Secretary Pete Hegseth's plane.

Sargent said, "Now new leaks from inside the administration are making this whole affair look considerably darker."

The White House is dealing with the leaked information and conducting an investigation by the chief of staff and the director of the FBI. On Wednesday, it was revealed who was on the decoy plane and that the president abandoned the safety of Secretary of State Marco Rubio while making members of the press sitting ducks.

It was then leaked to the Washington Post on Wednesday evening that the CIA didn't buy the intelligence that came from Israel.

One official said that the claims of threats against Trump’s life were “Israeli-derived, not U.S.-generated, and viewed as low confidence.”

“As the President has said, he has faced numerous threats on his life, including ones from Iran, and every measure is taken to ensure his safety,” a U.S. official said in a statement to the Post. “The United States Secret Service’s core mission is protecting the President, which they achieved.”

"It appears several of Trump’s most loyal aides were transferred to the secret plane with him, even as reporters were not informed about any of this and were left on the decoy plane as well," explained Sargent. "All this neatly symbolizes Trump’s abusive and authoritarian relationship with the media."

Trump hasn't been known for treating the press fairly, Sullivan explained.

"He has treated the press in a very unusual and very bad way for years now, and unfortunately, many members of the mainstream media don’t seem to care, or they don’t know what to do about it," said Sullivan. "But they keep covering him in this very normalizing way. Like, 'Well, he’s the president, so therefore we have to believe everything he says,' or, you know, treat it with a great deal of deference."

"And, you know, this, I think, is a very vivid example of what he thinks of them," said Sargent.

Sargent also pointed to the leaks that keep coming out about it. On Trump's personal flight were "White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, Walt Nauta, another top aide, and Natalie Harp, Trump’s executive assistant, who kind of functions like a security blanket to the president." The decoy flight had Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a slew of aides and the press.

Sullivan explained that the problem with not telling the press is that they could have hidden the information for security reasons, but instead they reported incorrect information. It's something she said the White House Correspondents’ Association should have stepped in to address.

"But was there a huge outcry? Was there a sense of, “My God, you can’t do this. Is it an absolute outrage? No," said Sullivan.

During a CNN discussion on Thursday morning, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said, "I think that's where the press has a right to be upset. If they were on that plane, they were basically made to be, in essence, bait."

CNN host Audie Cornish questioned, "I wonder if the staff was upset and that's why it got to the press. Do you know what I mean? Like, there were some people who were like, wait, what? Like we were all left behind as well?"

Critics like Jim Acosta, Jon Stewart, and John Oliver have mocked Trump for his weakness, and comparing it to the evening that Trump was rushed to the bunker to protect him from protesters a few blocks away.

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