July 16th 2024.
Recent intelligence has revealed that US authorities received information from a human source about a potential plot by Iran to assassinate former President Donald Trump. As a result, the Secret Service has increased security measures around Trump in recent weeks. However, there is no indication that the attempted assassination on Saturday by Thomas Matthew Crooks was connected to this plot, according to sources.
The existence of this intelligence threat from a hostile foreign agency has raised concerns about the security lapses at the rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, where the former president was injured by gunshots fired by Crooks from a nearby rooftop. The fact that a 20-year-old man was able to access this rooftop and cause harm to the former president has sparked questions about how such a breach could have occurred.
A US national security official confirmed that the Secret Service and Trump's campaign were aware of the threat prior to the rally. They stated that the Secret Service had been made aware of the increased danger and that the National Security Council had contacted them to ensure they were tracking the latest reports. The information was also shared with the Trump campaign, and as a result, the Secret Service increased resources and assets to protect the former president.
When asked about the Iran threat, the Trump campaign declined to comment and directed all questions to the Secret Service. On Sunday, the agency's spokesperson, Anthony Guglielmi, stated that they had recently added more resources and capabilities to Trump's security detail.
According to sources, Secret Service officials have repeatedly advised the Trump campaign against holding outdoor rallies due to the higher risk they pose. The agency prefers events where they have better control over access. At one point during the election cycle, the campaign stopped holding spontaneous off-the-record events due to security concerns, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The FBI, which is leading the investigation into Saturday's shooting, declined to comment. The National Security Council also stated that there is currently no known link between the shooter and anyone else. They emphasized that the investigation is ongoing and that law enforcement has not identified any accomplices or co-conspirators, foreign or domestic.
CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and Iran's Permanent Mission to the United Nations for comment.
Iran has repeatedly vowed revenge for the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian military's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, by the US military in January 2020. Former senior Trump administration officials who worked on national security have also had heightened security measures since leaving the government.
In August 2022, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against a member of the IRGC for attempting to orchestrate the assassination of John Bolton, who served as Trump's national security adviser. The plot was believed to be in retaliation for Soleimani's killing, according to US prosecutors.
Another former Trump official, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, was also a target of the Iranian assassination plot, according to sources familiar with the investigation and a source close to Pompeo.
Sources have confirmed that the former national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, had a US government security detail due to threats from Iran, but it was dropped last summer. O'Brien is now paying for his own private security detail. Lawmakers were not given a specific reason for this decision, which caused frustration. Bolton, on the other hand, still has his Secret Service detail.
For several months, law enforcement officials have been concerned about the possibility of Iran attempting to assassinate former Trump officials, including the former president himself. However, the recent intelligence has shown a significant increase in the threat, leading to a surge of online messaging from Iranian accounts and state-backed media mentioning Trump. This has raised further security concerns among US officials, according to sources.
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