Thirteen reporters and photographers joined Mr. Trump on his trip, but the White House took extreme precautions to ensure that no one revealed his destination. Journalists, instructed to assemble on the roof of a parking garage in the capital on Wednesday evening, were driven to Joint Base Andrews near Washington, where Secret Service agents confiscated their cellphones and other devices capable of transmitting their location. White House officials would not confirm Mr. Trump’s destination until after Air Force One had departed.
Even the president surrendered his phone. Cognizant that a long absence from Twitter was sure to draw notice and arouse suspicions about Mr. Trump’s activities, the White House posted from his account while he was in the air.
Earlier that evening, Mr. Trump had stolen out of Palm Beach, Fla., where his official public schedule had him spending Thanksgiving at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Leaving behind the modified 747 with blue-and-white markings known as Air Force One when the president is on it, Mr. Trump secretly flew to Washington and boarded a twin version of the plane, which had been hidden from public view in a giant hangar that reporters were prohibited from photographing. In the darkness of the night, Air Force One departed with shades drawn and running lights off.
The White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, would not say whether an early disclosure of Mr. Trump’s itinerary would have forced a change in plans but noted that maintaining an embargo was vital for security reasons. In keeping with the practice of past administrations, the White House lifted the embargo only after the president had been in Afghanistan for nearly three hours and was preparing to depart.
“For this very unique trip, it was very important to me that the traveling pool had every opportunity to break the news,” Ms. Grisham said.
On this trip, Mr. Trump himself seemed less fazed by the drama and intrigue than he had been during his Iraq adventure last year, when he admitted to “concerns for the institution of the presidency” and for the safety of his wife, Melania Trump, who had joined him. The first lady stayed home for this week’s visit to Afghanistan, where Mr. Trump boasted of American military successes and suggested that the Taliban was eager to make a peace deal.
“If you would have seen what we had to go through, with the darkened plane with all windows closed, with no lights on whatsoever, anywhere, pitch black,” Mr. Trump said in Iraq. “I’ve never seen that, been on many airplanes, all types and shapes and sizes, I’ve never seen anything like it.”