The Secret Service was already on alert several days before the assassination attempt against Donald Trump on Saturday, July 13. Not because it anticipated the attack on Thomas Matthew Crooks, shot dead by law enforcement after shooting the Republican candidate. But because the intelligence services had received information about a threat from Iran against the former president, several American media outlets revealed on Tuesday, July 16.
According to CNNwho first reported the information, the National Security Council (NSC) was informed of an Iranian plan to eliminate Donald Trump and “directly” passed the information to the Secret Service, the agency responsible for ensuring the protection of American presidents and former presidents. “In response to this heightened threat, the Secret Service has deployed resources and means for the protection of former President Trump. All of this occurred before Saturday,” an NSC source told the outlet.
Revenge after the assassination of Qassem Soleimani
NSC spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said the Iranian threats stemmed from “Iran’s desire to seek revenge for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani,” a popular Iranian general killed in a 2019 U.S. airstrike outside Baghdad airport. He was the leader of the elite Revolutionary Guards unit. Watson said no links have been identified between the shooter at the rally “and any accomplice or co-conspirator, foreign or domestic,” the report said. AP news agency.
Iran responded on Wednesday, July 17, by denouncing “malicious” accusations, according to a statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry. It states that the Islamic Republic is “determined to prosecute Mr. Trump for his direct role in the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.”
Security for Donald Trump, like that of current US President Joe Biden, has been stepped up following the assassination attempt on the Republican candidate. “More agents surrounded Biden as he boarded Air Force One bound for Las Vegas on Monday night,” AP reports. The agency also points out that at the Republican convention in Miwaukee, “there was a much larger presence than in the past, with agents keeping a protective barrier between Trump and the crowd, preventing him from greeting his supporters as easily as he usually does.”