WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said authorities were investigating an alleged plot involving about seven people aboard a plane last weekend carrying unspecified “gear” and aiming to “damage” the Republican Party’s recent convention, but offered no evidence and gave few details.
In a Fox News interview that aired late Monday, Trump initially said one person had boarded the plane from a city that he did not name, then said the plane was “completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms with gear and this and that.”
“There were like seven people on the plane like this person and then a lot of people were on the plane to do big damage,” Trump said.
Trump did not say where the individuals departed from or whether they were headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Republican National Committee held some of its events ahead of the Nov. 3 election, or to Washington, where Trump accepted the party’s nomination in a speech that controversially used the White House as a political backdrop.
Asked where the alleged incident occurred, Trump, who is running for re-election on a “law and order” platform in the face of national opinion polls showing him trailing Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, declined to give a location, saying “it’s under investigation.”
He also did not say which government agencies were investigating and did not specify what kind of “gear” the individuals were carrying or how they were able to board a plane headed to a U.S. city.
Representatives for the Federal Aviation Administration referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Department of Homeland Security also did not immediately respond.
It was also unclear if the alleged incident may have occurred on a commercial or other flight, and if anyone was arrested or charged.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
