Donald Trump claimed that he was concerned for the safety of his wife Melania Trump when making an unannounced trip to visit U.S. troops in Iraq for the Christmas holiday.

“I had concerns about the institution of the presidency. Not for myself personally. I had concerns for the First Lady, I will tell you,” Trump told reporters Wednesday shortly after landing at Al Asad Air Base near Baghdad.

“But if you would have see what we had to go through in the darkened plane with all window closed with no light anywhere. Pitch black. I’ve been on many airplanes. All types and shapes and sizes,” Trump continued. “So did I have a concern? Yes I had a concern.”

Trump had previously come under scrutiny for his decision to eschew visiting troops who were deployed in areas of combat like Iraq or Afghanistan. Last month, a former senior administration official told The Washington Post that Trump had expressed fears over his safety if he traveled to a combat zone.

“He’s never been interested in going,” the official told The Post, citing conversations with the president. “He’s afraid of those situations. He’s afraid people want to kill him.”

The Trumps departed Washington late Tuesday to make a previously unannounced trip to visit American forces in Iraq, where Trump met with military leaders and delivered remarks to roughly 100 U.S. troops in combat operations in Iraq and Syria. Details of the trip were kept under wraps until Wednesday afternoon.

It has been routine practice by presidents to visit combat zones around the holidays and first ladies have also taken trips to war-torn areas. Then-first lady Laura Bush, for instance, visited Afghanistan in 2005 to meet with Afghan women and U.S. troops.

Trump had previously faced scrutiny from critics for not visiting a combat zone since becoming president. Wednesday’s trip was Trump’s first to a combat zone in his two years in the White House.

“I want to come and pay my respects most importantly to the great soldiers, great troopers we have here,” Trump said Wednesday.

Trump also tweeted out video this afternoon with footage from his surprise trip to Iraq, set to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.”

.@FLOTUS Melania and I were honored to visit our incredible troops at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq. GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.! pic.twitter.com/rDlhITDvm1

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2018