(NewsNation) — The Secret Service reinforced security around former president Donald Trump in recent weeks after learning of an Iranian plot to assassinate the presumptive GOP nominee, a national security official told NewsNation.
The threat to Trump from Iran has increased in the past few months given the increasing chances he could return to the White House, a former federal law enforcement official said.
There’s no known connection between the alleged plot, which CNN first reported, and the weekend assassination attempt on the former president in Pennsylvania.
The U.S. National Security Council (NSC) has been tracking Iranian threats against Trump for years, tied to the county’s sworn revenge for the Jan. 3, 2020, killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson told NewsNation Tuesday. She confirmed the recent attempted Trump assassination does not appear to have ties to ongoing Iranian threats.
“At this time, law enforcement has reported that their investigation has not identified ties between the shooter and any accomplice or co-conspirator, foreign or domestic,” she said.
According to Watson, Iranian threats against Trump are nothing new and remain a “national and homeland security matter of the highest priority.”
“As part of that comprehensive response, we have invested extraordinary resources in developing additional information about these threats, disrupting individuals involved in these threats, enhancing the protective arrangements of potential targets of these threats, engaging with foreign partners, and directly warning Iran,” Watson said.
“We are also consistently in touch with the agencies overseeing the security details of these former officials to share evolving threat information on a timely basis and to reinforce President Biden’s directive that they receive every resource, capability, and protective measure required to address those evolving threats.”
Iran’s president vowed in January 2023 to avenge Soleimani’s death. Associated Press reports at the time described Soleimani as “the architect of Iran’s regional military activities.” He died in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq.
The Pentagon said Trump ordered the U.S. military to take “decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing” a man Iran’s supreme leader once called a “living martyr of the revolution,” according to the AP.
The Secret Service enhanced Trump’s security in June, U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said in an official statement Monday. The agency also changed Trump’s security detail after Saturday’s assassination attempt, she added. It’s unclear what those enhancements include. The Secret Service did not respond to NewsNation’s questions seeking additional information about security at Saturday’s rally or plans for the Republican National Convention, which began Monday.
Lawmakers are calling on top law officials to testify after the shooting at a Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump rally, where a gunman opened fire and injured the former president. One spectator was killed, and others were injured.
Law enforcement found bomb-making materials inside a vehicle linked to the suspect in the Trump rally shooting, they told the AP. They also found bomb-making materials at his home.