The US Secret Service has increased security around the former president donald trump after obtaining information in recent weeks about “an Iranian plot” to assassinate him, according to people familiar with the situation.
However, There is no evidence of any link with Thomas Matthew Crookswho is accused of shooting Trump at a rally on Saturday.
The White House contacted the Secret Service to inform it of the threat, which transmitted information about Iran’s effort to target Trump’s campaignaccording to one of the people. The Secret Service subsequently increased resources and assets to help protect Trump, the source said.
The Secret Service and its director, Kimberly Cheatle, have been under intense scrutiny since Trump’s near-death in Pennsylvania. Cheatle said Monday in an interview with ABC News that the agency’s failure was “unacceptable” and “something that should not happen again.”
Trump took an aggressive stance against Tehran (Iran) during his presidency, notably by ordering the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, in January 2020. The United States said in 2022 that the military group, known as the IRGC, had plans to kill John Bolton, who had served as one of Trump’s national security advisers.
“We have been following the Iranian threats against former Trump administration officials “for years, dating back to the last administration,” Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said in a statement. “These threats stem from Iran’s desire to seek revenge” for the killing of Soleimani, she said.
CNN, which previously reported on the Iranian plot, said information about the plan came from a human source.
