US Authorities Knew About Iran Plot to Assassinate Trump Before Butler Shooting
Jake Smith /
DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—U.S. authorities reportedly received intelligence ahead of an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump over the weekend that Iran was reportedly plotting to kill him, CNN reported on Tuesday.
The intelligence, provided to U.S. authorities by a human source, prompted the Secret Service to ramp up protections for the former president in the weeks leading up to the shooting, several people briefed on the matter told CNN.
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson told The New York Times that there is no known connection between the alleged Iranian plot and the assassination attempt against Trump by Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old gunman who was killed by U.S. forces swiftly after he began opening fire on Trump and the crowd on Saturday.
Trump was shot and injured by a gunman at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday in an assassination attempt that has been decried by critics as a failure by the Secret Service to ensure security at the event.
“Once again, we lack an effective policy to deter Iran’s regime from these attacks,” Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran and scholar at the Middle East Institute, said in a statement on Tuesday. “A strongly-worded press statement, beefed up security, and perhaps sanctions and an indictment will not suffice.”
It isn’t clear whether details about the intelligence received by U.S. authorities were subsequently made known to the Trump campaign, which told CNN on Tuesday that it does “not comment on President Trump’s security detail. All questions should be directed to The United States Secret Service.”
The Secret Service had strongly advised the Trump campaign to not hold rallies outside ahead of the presidential election in November, although such warnings were made in a general sense, people briefed on the matter told CNN. The Trump campaign stopped holding spontaneous events at one point during the election season because of security concerns, a source familiar told CNN.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told ABC News on Monday that it was “unacceptable” that the shooter was able to fire on Trump and accepted responsibility for the agency’s failure to ensure security. She does not plan to resign from her role.
Iran has been vocal that it seeks revenge against Trump and members of his former administration for the death of Qasem Soleimani, a popular figure in Iran and the former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, who was killed in a drone strike in 2020.
Former national security adviser John Bolton was previously a target, likely in “retaliation” for Soleimani’s death, the Department of Justice previously found; former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also a target at one point, according to a federal law enforcement official familiar with investigations and a source in Pompeo’s orbit who spoke to CNN.
“The Secret Service and other agencies are constantly receiving new potential threat information and taking action to adjust resources, as needed,” Secret Service Chief of Communication Anthony Guglielmi told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We cannot comment on any specific threat stream other than to say that the Secret Service takes threats seriously and responds accordingly.”
The FBI referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to the Secret Service.