An Iranian assassination plot against President Trump was apparently so credible that while leaving the NATO summit in Turkey last month, the Secret Service deemed it necessary to play a shell game with Air Force One and spirited away the President to a different Air Force plane. However, to the leftist extremists of MS NOW, it was rollicking affair. During the handoff between Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell’s The Last Word Monday night, the two laughed about situation and reveled in how Trump “lost complete control in this story.”
“I am very pleased,” Maddow proclaimed as she proceeded to explain how excited she was about the story and about getting to listen to O’Donnell rant about it:
I am very pleased to say it's time for The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. Which is more of a pleasure for me to say than usual, because The New York Times has just posted a headline on the front page of the New York Times website, which reads, "Trump hid in a catering container to sneak out of Turkey.”
Maddow and O’Donnell were over the moon thinking about “Trump hiding in a catering cart.” The two smiled and laughed about how the story was now in the news cycle:
MADDOW: And honestly, that news has just broken; Trump hiding in a catering cart. And the thing I want most in the world, upon hearing that news, is to hear Lawrence O'Donnell explain it to me. And god bless you, Lawrence. Please tell me that you will.
O'DONNELL: It is issue number one.
[Laughter and smiles]
In this hour of coverage, we're going to be relying on The Washington Post, that broke the story a few hours, a couple of hours before the New York Times. And it is it's one of it's one of the many examples of how Donald Trump has lost control. He's - He didn't just lose control of which version of Air Force One he got to use. He lost complete control in this story.
"I am very pleased."
MS NOW hosts laugh and smile about an Iranian assassination attempt against President Trump in Turkey, and mock him for how he "lost control" of the situation:
RACHEL MADDOW: Now, I am very pleased to say it's time for The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell,… pic.twitter.com/ZAbztuACzP— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) August 11, 2026
After a few minutes of his opening monologue, O’Donnell finally got around to talking the Air Force One switcheroo. What really gave him a thrill up his leg was the idea that Trump was not in control of the situation: “We have breaking news reporting tonight about something else Donald Trump has lost control of: his choice of airplane. And it's much worse than we thought.”
For the next several minutes, O’Donnell outsourced his content to The Washington Post by reading excerpt after excerpt from their article.
Coming up for air amid his perverted Reading Rainbow parody, O’Donnell fantasied about how uncomfortable and upset Trump was on a non-luxurious Air Force passenger plane:
And imagine, just imagine tonight what a loss of control Donald Trump must have been feeling in Turkey when he was told that he not only could not fly on the Qatari jet that he illegally accepted as a gift from a dictator, but he could not fly on Air Force One.
“And so, Donald Trump had no control at all of how he traveled away from that NATO summit. No control in a plane he never wanted to fly in. Moving on a catering truck from one place to another to do that, because Donald Trump was not in control of that situation,” O’Donnell sickly boasted.
During his opening rant, O'Donnell alternates between being giddy that Trump "was not in control of that situation" in which the Secret Service had to act to protect his life, and seemingly being annoyed that the traveling press pool were kept in the dark about Trump's real… pic.twitter.com/D4WQJxO8QF
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) August 11, 2026
Ironically, O’Donnell kept noting that Trump was loaded into a C-32A and gushing like it was just an Air Force cargo plane. However, that model was a passenger aircraft and was possibly the one often used by the vice president nicknamed Air Force Two. And while he also kept making snide comments about Trump needing to ride in “the real Air Force One,” it was just a call sign for the craft. Any fixed wing aircraft becomes Air Force One when it’s designated for use by the president.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MS NOW’s The Last Word
August 10, 2026
10:00:21 p.m. EasternRACHEL MADDOW: Now, I am very pleased to say it's time for The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. Which is more of a pleasure for me to say than usual, because The New York Times has just posted a headline on the front page of the New York Times website, which reads, "Trump hid in a catering container to sneak out of Turkey."
And honestly, that news has just broken; Trump hiding in a catering cart. And the thing I want most in the world, upon hearing that news, is to hear Lawrence O'Donnell explain it to me. And god bless you, Lawrence. Please tell me that you will.
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: It is issue number one.
[Laughter and smiles]
In this hour of coverage, we're going to be relying on The Washington Post, that broke the story a few hours, a couple of hours before the New York Times. And it is it's one of it's one of the many examples of how Donald Trump has lost control. He's - He didn't just lose control of which version of Air Force One he got to use. He lost complete control in this story.
(...)
10:04:04 p.m. Eastern
O’DONNELL: And we have breaking news reporting, as Rachel just indicated. We have breaking news reporting tonight about something else Donald Trump has lost control of: his choice of airplane. And it's much worse than we thought.
It was widely reported that when Donald Trump left the NATO summit in Turkey last month, he did not use the 747 that the dictator of Qatar gave to Donald Trump as a gift. Important reporting by The New York Times and others showed that the Qatari jet does not have all of the equipment, including the security equipment, on the real Air Force One, which then arrived in Turkey, apparently to take the place of Donald Trump's favorite new plane for security reasons.
But tonight, in what was first exclusively reported by The Washington Post, The Washington Post says, “An Iranian assassination threat against President Donald Trump prompted an extraordinary operation last month, in which he flew secretly from Turkey on an alternate military aircraft while the “White House said he was aboard Air Force One, The Washington Post has learned.
“The clandestine mission, which has not been reported previously, was carried out unbeknownst to journalists and some White House staff members who believed they were on the same plane as the president, according to material reviewed by The Post, a U.S. official familiar with the operation and another person with knowledge of the president's travel.
“In Ankara, Trump boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras. He was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane - an Air Force C-32A - via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight, according to the U.S. official, and corroborating material reviewed by The Post.
“That made Air Force One a ‘decoy’ with media and some White House staff aboard, the official said… The operation occurred a night after U.S. forces renewed military strikes on Iran at Trump's direction, following a breakdown of nations between Washington and Tehran…”
A White House spokesperson did not deny The Washington Post's reporting and instead issued a statement simply saying, “As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.”
There are many, many ways for Donald Trump to experience just how much control he does not have. Every day that the Senate is in session, the Republican leader of the Senate refuses to even attempt a vote on the legislation that Donald Trump calls the SAVE Act, that Donald Trump wants to pass that would give him the ability to interfere in our elections. And every once in a while, Donald Trump issues a threatening social media post about passing that legislation in the Senate, and then he does absolutely nothing, because Donald Trump cannot control the Republican Senate to give him everything he wants legislatively.
And imagine, just imagine tonight what a loss of control Donald Trump must have been feeling in Turkey when he was told that he not only could not fly on the Qatari jet that he illegally accepted as a gift from a dictator, but he could not fly on Air Force One.
The Washington Post reports, “Numerous people participated in the deception, some unwittingly, and journalists who thought they were traveling with the president aboard the legacy Air Force One were not notified that he had changed aircraft or made aware of the extent of the threat on Air Force One, the U.S. Officials said.
“The new Air Force One jet gifted by Qatar departed Turkey first early in the evening of July 8. Trump then boarded the legacy blue-and-white Air Force One at dusk, waving goodbye on camera. To exit that plane without being seen by those uninvolved in the operation, Trump and several aides stepped aboard an airport catering truck, which was elevated plane side using hydraulics and positioned at a door on the opposite side of Air Force One's entrance, according to the U.S. official and other corroborating material…
“It's not clear how Trump moved from the C-32A to the legacy Air Force One after landing, but he appeared before television cameras and descended external stairs from the legacy Air Force One about 10:56 p.m…”
And so, Donald Trump had no control at all of how he traveled away from that NATO summit. No control in a plane he never wanted to fly in. Moving on a catering truck from one place to another to do that, because Donald Trump was not in control of that situation.
(…)
