A rumor spread online claiming Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stayed aboard Air Force One as an 'unwitting decoy' after President Trump was reportedly smuggled off the plane in Ankara, Turkey, over a credible threat from Iran, and that this explained her resignation a month later. The claim appeared on Facebook, Instagram and X. Both a White House spokesperson and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who broke the original smuggling story, told Snopes Leavitt was not on the flight.
Snopes says it could not get direct confirmation from Leavitt or anyone else aboard, and left the underlying decoy rumor unrated despite the denials. A separate Times report named Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, adviser Stephen Miller, and communications director Steven Cheung as present on the flight; Snopes is still seeking confirmation on Cheung and Miller specifically.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.