The US was reportedly informed of an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump

2024-07-17 07:43:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The US was reportedly informed of an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump

Donald Trump

A whistleblower recently told US authorities that Iran was plotting to kill former US President Donald Trump, CNN reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

In response, the US Secret Service increased security around Trump - with additional counter-assault and counter-sniper agents, drones and robotic dogs, the TV network reports.

According to the same source, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who tried to kill Trump on July 13, does not appear to have been connected to the Iranian plot.

Former Trump administration officials, including his national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have also reportedly received threats from Iran.

This, after Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the elite Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed in January 2020 in an attack by US forces under the command of then-President Trump.

Iran vowed to avenge the killing.

Iran's mission to the United Nations said reports of an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump are "baseless and malicious," and added that Trump is "a criminal who must be prosecuted and punished in court."

Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the US Secret Service, said that he and other agencies "have continually received new information about potential threats" and that they "have taken action to adjust resources as necessary."

"We cannot comment on any specific stream of threats, other than to say that the Secret Service takes them seriously and responds accordingly," Guglielmi said.

Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said that US security officials had been following up on "Iranian threats against former Trump administration officials" for years.

"These threats were born out of Iran's desire to take revenge for the killing of Soleimani," she said, the BBC reports. "We consider this a matter of national security of the highest priority," Watson added.

However, she reiterated that investigations "have not identified any links" between Crooks and "any foreign or domestic associates".

Crooks fired at Trump, wounding him in the ear, while he was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. One person in the audience was killed and two others were injured. Crooks, 20, was shot and killed by the Secret Service, but his motive remains unclear.

After the attack, questions were raised about how police officers and agents in charge of the rally allowed Crooks to get so close. The Secret Service admitted that local police were inside the building while Crooks was on its roof, targeting Trump from 130 feet away.

CBS News reported that three local police snipers were inside the building and that they had seen Crooks climb to the roof. US President Joe Biden ordered an independent review of how the gunman got there.

The Secret Service will also face investigations from Congress. /REL