White House pushed for protocol to preserve correspondents' credibility after Trump's secret plane switch

The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is addressing concerns about President Donald Trump's secret plane switch in order to preserve pool credibility and accurately chronicle the president during future security circumstances.

A bombshell Washington Post report on Monday revealed that Trump secretly switched planes last month amid a credible Iranian threat against the president while reporters and some White House staffers remained on the original plane, believing Trump was still inside. The report sparked backlash from many journalists, suggesting the reporters on the flight were not only duped, but also put at risk.

Fox News anchor and senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, who is the new president of the WHCA, sent an "off-the-record" memo to members on Tuesday after meeting with Trump administration officials to discuss the incident.

"I want members to know what WHCA has done since the story was published. Immediately after it broke, we spoke with members who were on the flight and heard from a number of managers and pool chairs about the broader concerns raised by the report, including press safety, the ability of the pool to maintain an independent record of the president's movements, and the integrity and credibility of pooled reporting," Heinrich wrote in the letter obtained by Fox News Digital.

Heinrich said she had a "candid and productive meeting" with senior administration staffers to convey those concerns directly.

"I emphasized that WHCA recognizes the paramount responsibility of the Secret Service to protect the president and that genuine security threats can require extraordinary measures, including circumstances in which operational security limits what can be shared with reporters in real time," Heinrich wrote.

Following U.S. military strikes against Iranian targets earlier in the summer, intelligence officials identified a specific threat from Iran targeting the president's movements. To counter the threat, U.S. security officials executed a ruse on the Turkish tarmac.