How was Donald Trump’s Afghanistan trip kept secret? No phones, scripted tweets
- Notorious for leaks, White House went to unusual lengths to keep president’s Thanksgiving visit under wraps
- Arrangements were made so Trump would appear active on Twitter, even while he was on board Air Force One
Notorious for leaks and chastened by previous security lapses, the White House went to unusual lengths to keep President Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving trip to Afghanistan under wraps, devising a cover story for his movements that included posting scripted tweets while he was in the air, administration officials said.
On Thursday, Trump dropped in unannounced on troops at Afghanistan’s Bagram military airbase in his first trip to the country and only his second to a war zone during his presidency. He served soldiers a turkey dinner and posed for selfies, before telling reporters that the United States and Taliban hoped to resume peace talks.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the 33-hour round trip, which White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said had been weeks in the making, was the administration’s success in keeping it secret until shortly before the president left Afghanistan to return home.
Frequently wrong-footed by leaks and Trump’s freewheeling use of Twitter, the White House informed only a tight circle of officials about the trip.
On Tuesday, Trump travelled to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as scheduled, accompanied by the regular caravan of reporters that follows the president on all trips.
When those journalists waited for him to emerge for a Thursday afternoon conference call with the troops, per his official schedule, they learnt that overnight he had flown the 13,400km (8,331 miles) to Afghanistan to visit the soldiers in person.