On 28 November, Donald Trump paid a surprise visit to a US base in Afghanistan to celebrate Thanksgiving with American military personnel. His trip remained a closely guarded secret until the very last minute.
The White House took extra measures to keep Donald Trump's Thanksgiving trip to a US military base in Afghanistan as discreet as possible – including concealing information from the press, confiscating smart phones from journalists and administration officials once in the air, and even scheduling tweets from the president's Twitter account to resemble his online activity, Reuters and Fox News have learned.
On 27 November, Donald Trump travelled on Air Force One from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to Afghanistan. Phones and other devices belonging to pool reporters who were waiting for Trump inside the base were confiscated, as they were briefed that the US president would soon travel to an undisclosed location. Journalists who earlier travelled with Trump from Mar-a-Lago in Florida to Maryland were also devoid of phone and internet connection. All smart phones and devices were returned to reporters only a few hours after Trump's arrival in Afghanistan.
Throughout the 13-hour-flight, Trump was accompanied by his top White House staffers, including White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, and National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien. Nobody onboard had access to their phones, but once in the air several scripted…
