Weird2 min(s) read
Published 16:21 08 Jul 2026 GMT
President Donald Trump has arrived in Ankara for the NATO Leaders Summit, but one of the biggest talking points has nothing to do with diplomacy.
According to reports, every time Trump uses the bathroom during the trip, his waste will not be left behind in Turkey. Instead, it will reportedly be collected using his personal toilet system and transported back to the United States under Secret Service supervision. The claim has been widely reported by Turkish outlet Turkiye Today and has also been repeated by other outlets covering the visit.
While it might sound bizarre, the reported practice is said to be part of a long-standing presidential security protocol designed to stop foreign intelligence agencies from gaining access to the US president's biological material.
The reported policy exists to prevent anyone from analyzing the president's biological waste for intelligence purposes. Stool samples can potentially reveal details about a person's health, which is why presidential security teams are said to treat them as sensitive material. According to reports, Trump's waste will be collected and flown back to the US rather than entering a foreign sewage system.
This is not believed to be a new procedure. Reports claim that during a 2006 visit to Vienna, President George W. Bush followed similar security measures, with even his used toilet paper reportedly flown back to Ramstein Air Base in Germany before returning to the United States.
The practice also reportedly extends beyond the US. French investigative journalists Regis Gente and Mikhail Rubin have claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin's team collects his feces in special bags before flying them back to Russia. Reports have also linked the practice to claims that Joseph Stalin once had Mao Zedong's feces examined in an attempt to learn more about his health.
Trump's reported toilet system is just one part of an enormous security operation surrounding the NATO summit.
Reports say his presidential limousine has also been transported across the Atlantic, while the US delegation, made up of around 1,400 people, is expected to be the largest attending the summit. The delegation will stay in hotels next to the US Embassy, with Trump's hotel reserved exclusively for his team during the visit.
The unusual security arrangements have attracted plenty of attention, but according to reports, they are viewed as standard precautions for protecting a sitting US president while traveling overseas.
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