Verdict with Ted Cruz - August 11, 2026


BONUS POD： Presidential Disappearing Act that Left Reporters Stunned Amid an Iranian Assassination Threat


Episode Stats


Length

10 minutes

Words per minute

160.04

Word count

1,719

Sentence count

104

Harmful content

Hate speech

6

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.480 Guaranteed human.
00:00:08.080 Anybody who's looking at this carefully
00:00:10.320 realizes that there's a distinct anti-science flavor to this.
00:00:15.900 So if they get up and criticize science,
00:00:18.380 they're really criticizing science because I represent science.
00:00:22.780 What I was doing was saying,
00:00:24.400 here are the data of why vaccines are safe and effective,
00:00:27.980 So we should be getting people vaccinated.
00:00:30.600 You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:00:34.440 Good Tuesday morning.
00:00:35.320 It's nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update.
00:00:37.800 And we've got one truly unbelievable story for you.
00:00:42.560 President Trump, it's now being reported, was secretly rushed out of Turkey,
00:00:47.860 hiding in a catering truck as Air Force One became a decoy.
00:00:52.120 All because of a credible Iranian assassination threat. 0.99
00:00:57.100 I've got the stunning details for you. 0.87
00:00:59.180 It's the 47 Morning Update, and it starts right now.
00:01:02.600 Story number one.
00:01:03.780 What we're learning this morning about the security threat against President Donald Trump
00:01:08.020 is absolutely extraordinary.
00:01:10.280 Because according to new reporting from the Washington Post investigation,
00:01:15.600 the threat from Iran became so serious that the United States carried out an elaborate deception
00:01:22.180 to secretly get the president out of Turkey.
00:01:25.860 And this may sound like something out of a spy movie.
00:01:28.480 The Washington Post is now reporting that this happened on July 8th,
00:01:33.240 after President Trump attended the NATO summit.
00:01:36.160 Now, according to the report, there was a credible Iranian assassination threat against the president.
00:01:41.800 And American security officials apparently decided they were not going to take any chances. 0.50
00:01:47.700 So they created a decoy.
00:01:50.120 Insert the spy movie right now.
00:01:52.240 President Trump was seen publicly boarding the older Boeing 747 used as Air Force One.
00:01:59.480 Cameras saw him get on the plane.
00:02:01.900 Reporters believed he was on that plane.
00:02:05.440 Even some White House staff apparently believed the president was on that aircraft.
00:02:11.240 But according to the Washington Post, that wasn't what actually happened.
00:02:16.300 Trump was secretly moved from the 747 Air Force One.
00:02:20.640 and transport across the airport in something nobody would expect the President of the United
00:02:26.860 States would be riding in, an airport catering truck. That kind of vehicle normally used to
00:02:33.820 load food and supplies onto an airplane. If you fly often, you see that truck pulled up right
00:02:39.620 when you're walking on the plane, bringing on, well, drinks and beverages and food and taking
00:02:45.660 away old beverages and trash and whatever else.
00:02:49.840 That is how they moved the president.
00:02:52.300 Now, that catering vehicle reportedly transported the president to a completely different aircraft.
00:02:57.880 That was an Air Force C-32A, the smaller military jet commonly associated with senior government
00:03:04.820 travel.
00:03:05.880 Then we're told that Trump secretly departed Turkey aboard that aircraft while the 747
00:03:11.220 effectively served as a decoy.
00:03:14.360 Now, I want you to think about the level of planning involved here.
00:03:18.200 You have television cameras watching one airplane.
00:03:21.320 You have journalists aboard that airplane.
00:03:24.500 You have the White House personnel aboard that airplane as well.
00:03:28.880 And meanwhile, the President of the United States is being quietly transported across the airport on the tarmac in a catering truck to board another military aircraft.
00:03:40.100 because officials are so concerned about the potential Iranian threat against his life.
00:03:45.640 Now, the Washington Post reporting also says that Trump's actual aircraft flew to RAF Mildenhall in Britain.
00:03:54.720 Reuters, citing the Post reporting, says the extraordinary security operation
00:03:59.220 was considered a credible Iranian assassination threat.
00:04:05.060 And here's what makes the story even more remarkable.
00:04:07.480 At the time, the public explanation was completely different.
00:04:12.180 Trump had said he was using the older Air Force One essentially, quote, for old time's sake.
00:04:18.960 When reporters asked whether the Iranian threats were behind the unusual travel arrangements,
00:04:24.200 Trump dismissed that idea and he explained that the plane changed and he just said he
00:04:29.100 pointed out that the threats against him were nothing new.
00:04:32.060 He said Iran had him at the top of its list.
00:04:36.820 Here's how CNN also reported the breaking news story to their audience from Anderson Cooper.
00:04:43.280 Good evening from the newsroom.
00:04:44.540 We begin with a remarkable new twist to a story already full of them.
00:04:48.280 New reporting in the Washington Post about the president's return from the NATO summit in Turkey,
00:04:53.060 which already included a change of planes with the president, or so we thought,
00:04:57.480 taking his old blue 747 for the first leg of the trip.
00:05:01.080 instead of this new Qatari gift, Red 747,
00:05:05.120 which he boarded for the second leg from England back to the U.S.
00:05:07.980 Now, we were told at the time it was to give troops in England
00:05:11.000 a better look at the new plane, which had left Turkey earlier.
00:05:15.040 That wasn't true, and everybody knew it wasn't true at the time.
00:05:18.300 The switch was for security reasons,
00:05:20.480 and now the Post is reporting that the threat was so severe
00:05:23.560 there was a second switch onto a third plane.
00:05:27.380 The president was not on this plane at all.
00:05:29.760 While instead, according to the Post, even as members of the press were boarding from
00:05:33.860 the rear door, the president, who we just showed you climbing the front steps, was leaving
00:05:39.500 the plane, leaving on one of these.
00:05:43.000 Quoting now from the Post, he was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane,
00:05:47.820 an Air Force C-32A via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other
00:05:54.440 supplies pre-flight, according to U.S. official and corroborating material reviewed by the
00:05:58.880 Post. The Post asked the White House for comment. The White House instead provided a statement about
00:06:03.480 the new 747 saying, quote, the new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted
00:06:08.580 with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the president and his staff. As the
00:06:13.440 president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him
00:06:17.360 and will use every tool at our disposal to address those threats. This is the part that I absolutely
00:06:23.120 love we have a president united states of america that doesn't cancel the trip and the security
00:06:30.140 around him they do it amazingly well to protect the president of the united states of america
00:06:36.380 now you notice how anderson cooper there says we all knew that this was absurd a month ago well
00:06:42.440 then why didn't you say something about it of course they're angry that they got duped by the
00:06:47.440 security team of the president that they were on the plane and the president wasn't actually there
00:06:52.260 Now, a month later, we're all learning how sophisticated the security operation actually was.
00:06:58.700 And regardless, by the way, of your politics, and I would say this specifically to Anderson Cooper,
00:07:03.760 Americans should understand the significance of this.
00:07:07.600 Iran has repeatedly been accused by American officials of plotting to assassinate U.S. officials, including our president.
00:07:17.060 Now, we're talking about security concerns serious enough that the commander in chief's movements were disguised.
00:07:23.820 Air Force One was reportedly used as a decoy and the president was moved through an airport in a catering vehicle.
00:07:33.060 That's not routine presidential security.
00:07:36.340 That's an extraordinary precaution designed around one objective to make sure anyone potentially watching does not know where the president actually is.
00:07:45.480 And God bless our men and women who protect our president.
00:07:49.060 And there's also another important issue here as well.
00:07:52.620 Some people are going to look at this story and ask why the White House didn't tell the truth publicly at the time.
00:07:58.160 You can hear the disdain in the voice of Anderson Cooper there.
00:08:01.140 We should know where the media.
00:08:03.200 Well, the president's security is one of those situations where secrecy and deception can be a part of the protection itself.
00:08:10.760 And I'm glad they did it.
00:08:12.140 You don't announce the president's relocation while you're trying to conceal it from a potential adversary who has publicly said they want to kill the president and are planning to do it if they can.
00:08:23.500 You don't tell the world which airplane he's actually aboard.
00:08:26.580 And you certainly don't explain your security protocol in real time, even to the elitist media.
00:08:33.080 Now, the Washington Post reporting also suggests that the deception went remarkably well.
00:08:37.720 right down to people traveling with the president
00:08:40.440 and not necessarily knowing what was even happening
00:08:43.200 for those around the president in his own entourage.
00:08:46.880 Again, I love this.
00:08:49.020 And that's what also tells you something else. 0.99
00:08:52.400 This is how big of a threat Iran is to the U.S. 0.99
00:08:55.920 and to the president of the United States of America. 0.85
00:08:58.880 There are real threats and environments around this president
00:09:02.400 that no other president has ever had to deal with.
00:09:04.920 So we've become accustomed to hearing about threats against Donald Trump
00:09:08.660 more than any other president in my lifetime.
00:09:11.300 And the sad part is the way the media has dealt with all of these assassination attempts of the president
00:09:16.380 is they want you to just become numb to the language so that it's just background noise.
00:09:21.500 This should not be background noise.
00:09:23.760 The president, well, he did the right thing by making sure that he was safe.
00:09:29.060 Those around him did the right thing.
00:09:30.660 and having him transport through foreign airports and catering trucks, that's truly genius.
00:09:37.080 Air Force One doesn't become a decoy for no reason.
00:09:40.020 And the President of the United States doesn't secretly leave a NATO summit aboard another military aircraft
00:09:45.480 unless the people responsible for protecting President Trump believe there's a real reason
00:09:50.120 to take these truly extraordinary precautions, which goes back to the issue with Iran.
00:09:57.180 Why on earth would anyone think that Iran could be trusted with a nuclear weapon?
00:10:02.200 And that's what makes this Washington Post report, for me, so stunning.
00:10:06.580 The headline isn't simply that Donald Trump changed airplanes.
00:10:10.240 The headline is that American security officials believe the Iranian threat was so serious,
00:10:15.540 it was serious enough to create an elaborate presidential disappearing act,
00:10:21.020 hiding the commander-in-chief's actual movements from virtually everyone watching.
00:10:25.160 and the best part about it is this
00:10:27.380 it worked
00:10:28.540 thank you for listening to the 47 morning update
00:10:31.340 with Ben Ferguson
00:10:32.460 please make sure you hit subscribe
00:10:34.720 wherever you're listening to this podcast
00:10:37.020 right now and for more in depth
00:10:39.160 news also subscribe to the
00:10:41.160 Ben Ferguson podcast and we will
00:10:43.260 see you back here tomorrow