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The Situation Room

Source: Several Close Aides Joined Trump on Secret Flight; Investigation Underway After Army Apache Crash Kills Two Pilots; Growing Questions on President Trump's Health. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired August 13, 2026 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:30:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: -- smaller plane, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stayed on the larger decoy plane, along with other staff and White House press corps, unaware of the ruse.

We have an all-star team covering every angle of this story. CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak, CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, and CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter. Great to have you all on.

Kevin, you've uncovered so many of these details. Tell our viewers the latest and explain how legitimate the security threat was from Iran.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, it was legitimate enough for American officials to muster these fighter jets to escort both the plane that the president was actually on, but also the decoy plane out of the country, which is unusual for a jet without the president on it.

What we have understood is that Israeli intelligence came to the U.S. with information that they had about a plot that they had uncovered to assassinate President Trump. Of course, we know that Iran has had this in their minds for quite some time, dating back to the president's first term. American officials viewed that somewhat skeptically. They thought that Israel could perhaps be trying to influence President Trump's decision-making at what was a very sensitive moment in the Iran war.

Remember, this is back when the ceasefire was collapsing. President Trump was weighing whether or not to resume the full-scale conflict. After that Israeli intelligence came in, American officials also gathered their own information, and they did come up with what would seem to be a plot by the Iranians to use a shoulder-fired missile to take down Air Force One. It's not precisely clear where that information actually came from.

And even that was viewed as somewhat implausible by some security officials. For one, security in Ankara for the summit was extraordinarily tight. I was there. It was unlike any other summit I've ever covered. Multiple layers of security, both at the summit site itself, but also around the airport. And so, they didn't necessarily think that this was a plausible attempt, but nonetheless, they didn't really have a lot of time to ascertain exactly what was real here, and that is part of why they came up with this plan in a scramble, really, on that morning to get the president off of the legacy Air Force One and onto the alternate jet.

Of course, now, in retrospect, people are questioning just how real this plot was, but at the time, the Secret Service and White House officials just decided the risk was not worth it. There was zero margin for error, and they decided to execute this shell game.

BROWN: So, Colonel Leighton, I want to play what President Trump recently said about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why was it too dangerous for you to fly on Air Force One, but not too dangerous for the press?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, I don't know. I think, actually, the plane that I flew on was at greater risk. I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane, I think, that they would be more likely to go for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What's your assessment of the president's statement there?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, first of all, Pam, the aircraft that is protected, at least in terms of its own resources, is the Air Force One aircraft, the original Air Force One aircraft. The Qatari Air Force One aircraft has some capabilities to protect it as well, and in terms of those capabilities, the 757 equivalent that he got on does not have the same types of safety measures that the Air Force One has and that are originally built into the Air Force One airframe.

But on the one hand, so from that standpoint, he's correct that the aircraft is not as safe as the other one, but the issue here is that that was an aircraft that was not really targeted. It -- you know, according to these reports, the Air Force One aircraft is the one that was targeted, and probably both Air Force Ones, and this one would be a safer aircraft to be on given the circumstances of -- you know, of the intelligence that we're hearing about now.

BROWN: So, to be clear, if there was a credible threat, why was a decoy aircraft carrying reporters, staff, and senior officials, including members of the cabinet and the presidential line of succession, allowed to fly?

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's a really good question. I think what they were trying to do is they were trying to make things seem as normal as possible on the tarmac in Ankara, so they would not have a major gaggle of people, let's say, leaving one aircraft and going to another aircraft, making potentially that other aircraft more vulnerable at that point.

So, when you look at the way in which they did this, what they're trying to do is make operations seem as normal as possible on the tarmac at the airport there, but they were trying to protect the president and move him into another place. Now, of course, that puts reporters at risk, and it puts senior staff at risk, and that -- at least potentially, and that, of course, is a real issue in this particular case.

[11:35:00]

In essence, they didn't have really good alternatives to come up with in this very short period of time, given the fact that they assessed this information at least to be actionable, if not necessarily credible.

BROWN: So, Brian, I understand the members of the White House press corps who travel with the president are voicing their concerns to the administration about this. What more can you tell us about that?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Right. They're asking for a protocol for any future events like this, any extraordinary security measures that are taken. It's important to have a protocol in place so the journalists do know what actually happened and where the president actually was at all times. So, there was a meeting between the head of the White House Correspondents Association and Trump aides earlier this week. These concerns were outlined, and there's been no response from the White House yet.

This is ultimately about credibility, both the White House's credibility and the press corps' credibility. This all started with a lie. It was the president's lie, where he said, I'm going to send the new Qatari gifted Air Force One over to the U.K. because all the service members want to see it. He's the one who alerted the world that something unusual was going on with his travel plans. And then hours later, we believed he was taking off on that other, older Air Force One.

So, Trump started with a lie. Then people inside the government leaked the truth about the security concerns, right? We found out part of the story in July. Then the leaks continued. Someone tipped off the Washington Post. Now, maybe we've learned the full truth about just how serious this was. But Trump is still repeating the lie that this was all about troops wanting to see his new Air Force One from Qatar. The lie has been exposed. The truth has been revealed.

So, oddly, Pam, it's an example of the system working, right? Sources inside the government thought the public was being deceived by the president. They thought the truth should come out about the deception. And now, we know the truth. But it reminds me of an even greater deception that we've all been seeing in recent months. Trump has claimed that Iran has been completely defeated. He said on Fox News on July 13th, eight days -- sorry, five days after he had to switch planes, he said on Fox News, quote, "they got nothing. They have no Navy. They have no Air Force. It's all gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone." That was the president's narrative about Iran only five days after this security concern.

So, I think the true meaning of this story one month later, Pam, is that it contradicts the president's narrative about the war with Iran.

BROWN: And that's why we always have to be asking questions as reporters. Kevin, I know you've been asking a lot of these questions. Do we have a clear understanding of which administration officials were and were not aware of the president's plane switch and the security threat here?

LIPTAK: Well, it was a small group. The two cabinet secretaries who stayed behind on that old Air Force One, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, they were aware that President Trump was not on that plane. They had been involved in the planning in the hours beforehand of this deception ruse to get the president off. So, they knew that he wasn't on the plane.

In terms of some of the other staff members on the plane, and on Air Force One, it's a pretty wide swathe of people who travel. It's the most senior aides, but you also have military officials, the stewards who work on the plane itself, members of the press, Secret Service agents. So, there's a wide variety of people who ride on that plane. And certainly not all of them were aware that this was happening.

And you see in the video, staff and press coming up the back stairs of the plane after the president has gotten on. And we know from the video that as they are boarding, the president is on the other side of the plane, heading out that exit door and into the catering container to go across the tarmac. He was joined in there by those two close personal aides of his, Natalie Harp and Walt Nauta. I've been talking to White House officials, they don't necessarily think that that's a huge surprise, those two accompany him virtually everywhere he goes. And so, they were obviously in on the plot as well.

BROWN: Imagine, they got even closer in that catering container that they had to go in. I mean, just trying to visualize that is something. Kevin Liptak, Colonel Cedric Leighton and Brian Stelter, thank you.

And just ahead, smoke, debris and a massive emergency response. New information about an army helicopter crash right near Fort Hood, Texas that killed both soldiers on board.

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[11:40:00]

BROWN: Well, new this morning, investigators are trying to find out what went wrong after an army helicopter from Fort Hood crashed in a Texas field. The two pilots on board were killed. The crash sparked a wildfire that then burned around 100 acres and forced evacuations in the area. The pilots have not yet been publicly identified.

CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean is here in the Situation Room. So, what are investigators looking for right now?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, still very few details in this crash. And because this is a military crash investigation, unlike a civilian aircraft crash investigation, these investigations are not done out in the open and the results rarely released to the public. So, it could take some time to figure out exactly what went wrong here.

But here is what we know right now. This crash took place in Salado, Texas. It's about 40 miles north of Austin, just south of Fort Hood, which is a major helicopter base for the United States Army. What's apparent from the video is that this helicopter hit the ground hard and lit up a large brush fire of about 155 acres now put out. Still not clear the purpose of this flight.

The crash site is away from some of the airspace typically associated with training operations at Fort Hood. And there's been some speculation that this could have been a test flight after maintenance. But there is no confirmation of that yet from the Army.

We do know that this was an AH-64 Apache helicopter, first built by McDonnell Douglas, now produced and supported by Boeing.

[11:45:00]

The Apache has been in service for the Army for about 40 years' time, and there are more than 800 of them in the U.S. Army fleet. And with recent tech upgrades, the helicopter will likely be flying until at least 2050. A long service history like that, though, does not come without its issues. Apaches did have issues with what are known as strap packs, a critical structural part on the main rotor head on top of the helicopter.

In 2023, the Army disclosed electrical generator problems leading to smoke in the cockpit. That's a huge risk for pilots. And then there was a cluster of incidents in 2024, and that prompted renewed security of the aircraft's safety record. Of course, a lot of people are watching this, looking for new details, and the Army has not yet released the names of the two soldiers who were involved in this crash.

BROWN: Yes, very sad about that and their families. We're thinking of them right now. Thank you, Pete, for bringing us the latest.

MUNTEAN: Anytime.

BROWN: Well, coming up, a doctor's warning. Why a former White House physician says questions about President Trump's health need to be answered now.

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[11:50:00]

BROWN: New today, there are growing questions from prominent voices about President Trump's health. Dr. Jonathan Reiner advised the George W. Bush White House, and he wrote in an op-ed in The New York Times, saying in part, quote, "I was Dick Cheney's cardiologist. Trump has not looked well, and we should know why."

Dr. Reiner joins us now. He is a CNN medical analyst and professor at George Washington University. Dr. Reiner, thanks for coming on. So, what should the public know about the president's health that we don't already know from what's been released?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST AND PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Well, I think the public should know that there are several unanswered questions about the president's health. First of all, most of these questions are based on what is, you know, apparent to the -- you know, to the trained and untrained eye.

You're right. I don't think the president looks well. He has persistent, really chronic bruises on both his hands, which have not been adequately explained. Last summer, basically at this time, he developed really impressive swelling in both his legs, and there are some discrepancies about how that has been evaluated. He has, over the last several months, shown really a troubling inability to stay awake in public, what we call daytime somnolence. And he falls asleep on camera very frequently, and it's disturbing to see. He's also had several mysterious imaging CT scans done at unscheduled times and for unclear reasons.

So, all of that put together paints a picture of a president who has active medical issues, who doesn't appear well in public. And I think the public, in a representative democracy like the United States, with a leader with such a consequential job, I think the public has a right to know the status of the president's health.

BROWN: So, you notice over the course of several public events, we have seen President Trump struggling to stay awake. We know he had a CAT scan last fall. But has his medical team found what causes this problem or given enough information about what, you know, they've done about it?

DR. REINER: So, first of all, as it pertains to his, you know, daytime sleepiness, in his recent comprehensive medical exam, that wasn't even mentioned. Now, there are a lot of things that can cause someone to struggle to stay awake during the day, things like severe sleep apnea, but that was never mentioned as one in his medical report.

The reason why sleep apnea is so important, besides its penchant for really interfering with how well you function during the day, is that untreated sleep apnea can have significant cardiac and cognitive and pulmonary sequelae. And if the president -- I mean, if the president has sleep apnea, and we don't know because that diagnosis has not been given to us, there are ways to treat it. And if they are treating it, they are not treating it well, because the president seems to fall asleep in an increasingly frequent pattern.

BROWN: We know, though, he doesn't sleep much at night. He's now 80 years old. How much do you think that plays into it?

DR. REINER: Well, he's been, you know, sort of a legendary night owl for a long time, but only over the last several months has he really looked like he struggled to stay awake during the day. Now, I get it. You know, as people get older, sleep patterns change, people sleep less well, you know, during the night. But the job of the president of the United States requires them to be alert whenever needed, whenever needed. And his ability to, you know, his struggling with daytime somnolence, you know, makes me wonder and should make everyone wonder whether, you know, the White House staff has had to, you know, curtail the length of meetings or briefings, you know, for the president.

So, again, it would be impossible for me to believe that his, that this very stark abnormality, it's distinctly abnormal for the president, for a president to fall asleep in the Oval Office, that this has not been addressed by the White House Medical Unit, and they have not tried to treat it. What we do know for certain is that they have not told the public about that.

[11:55:00]

BROWN: Well, let me read the statement for you from the White House in response to your op-ed. The statement reads, quote, "President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible and energetic president in American history." It goes on to call -- say that what you're engaging in is an armchair diagnosis for political purposes and saying that you're a disgrace to the medical profession. I just want to make sure that I give you an opportunity to respond to that.

DR. REINER: So, for the last piece of that, the White House actually awarded me a certificate recognizing my service to the White House Medical Unit last year, given by the Trump White House Medical Unit. So, maybe they should, you know, check with that first.

But secondly, I haven't made any diagnoses. And if you look at the op- ed in the New York Times, I simply ask questions about things that are visible to everyone. So, if the White House wants to, you know, provide the diagnosis for why the president has bruises on his hands and swelling in his legs, and particularly why he struggles to stay awake, you know, I'm all ears. I want to hear it. I'm not making any diagnosis. I'm just asking questions.

BROWN: OK. Thank you so much, Dr. Reiner. We appreciate you coming on the show. And thank you all for joining us. Catch me today at 4:00 in The Arena. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Inside Politics starts after a quick break.

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