Intelligence officials brief Trump about “real and specific” assassination threats they say are linked to Iran, but many Trump supporters are skeptical of origins
By isabelle // 2024-09-27
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Intelligence officials have briefed former President Donald Trump about “real and specific” threats by Iran to assassinate him. According to campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence carried out the briefing about a potential assassination with the intent of destabilizing the U.S. and causing chaos. Cheung said: “Intelligence officials have identified that these continued and coordinated attacks have heightened in the past few months, and law enforcement officials across all agencies are working to ensure President Trump is protected and the election is free from interference." Intelligence officials also believe that Iran is motivated to kill Trump for revenge after he ordered the U.S. strike that killed Major General Qassim Soleimani when he was president. Soleimani was the commander of the elite Quds force in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Secret Service claims it is increasing security around Trump

Although it may be hard to believe considering how close two potential assassins have gotten to Trump in recent months, the Secret Service says it has been increasing security around the former president this year after receiving intelligence about a plot by Iran to assassinate him. Trump posted about the briefing on his Truth Social site, predicting: “Big threats on my life by Iran. Moves were already made by Iran that didn’t work out, but they will try again. Not a good situation for anyone. I am surrounded by more men, guns, and weapons than I have ever seen before….An attack on a former President is a Death Wish for the attacker!” The Iranian mission to the U.S. claims reports of an assassination plot are “unsubstantiated and malicious.” However, American agencies have confirmed that Iran has already tried to compromise the presidential campaigns of both Trump and Harris. A bill was unanimously passed this week giving prominent presidential candidates such as Harris and Trump the same level of protection provided to President Biden; the bill is now awaiting the president’s signature.

Trump has been subject to multiple assassination attempts

A recent Senate report concluded that the Secret Service team that was assigned to protect Trump at an election rally in Pennsylvania suffered from a failure of leadership after a lone gunman, Thomas Crooks, fired a shot toward Trump that grazed his ear and killed a rally attendee. It is not known whether Crooks was part of a broader plot with international connections, and no evidence has been presented so far to suggest this, although there are still a lot of questions about what happened. In a separate incident this month, Ryan Routh was apprehended after being spotted by a Secret Service agent lurking in the bushes as Trump played golf at his golf club in Palm Beach. Routh was armed with an AK-47-style weapon and had previously expressed a desire to kill Trump, describing the former president leaving the Iran nuclear deal as a “tremendous blunder.” He had staked out the golf course for around a month before finally taking aim at the former president as he golfed in mid-September. Routh will face charges of attempted assassination, but no evidence has emerged yet suggesting his plot to kill the former president was sponsored by Iran. Intelligence officials confirmed last week that Iranian hackers stole Trump campaign materials and gave them to several media outlets as well as the Biden campaign, which was still running at the time; all parties declined to publish them. That hack is believed to be linked to a group that is part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Sources for this article include: NBCNews.com TheGuardian.com
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