U.S. detected Iranian plot to assassinate Trump weeks before Pennsylvania incident

U.S. intelligence agencies obtained information about an Iranian plot to assassinate former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump weeks before last Saturday's attack, according to sources familiar with the matter and confirmed by the EFE Spanish language news agency.

However, reports and sources said there is no link between this Iranian plan and the attempted assassination of Trump that occurred a few days ago at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a 20-year-old man shot at the former president, wounding him in one ear and killing a New York firefighter who was attending the event.

Although there is no apparent link between the Butler incident and Iran, the Secret Service had reinforced the former president's security on Saturday because of the threats from Iran, sources said.

Widespread media reports indicated that the federal investigation now revolves around why these additional measures that were implemented due to the discovered Iranian plot did not serve to prevent the attacker, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, from climbing on a roof and shooting several times before being shot down by Secret Service agents.

A senior national security official also told EFE that, upon detecting the threat, the White House warned of the added danger to both the Trump campaign and the Secret Service, which took additional measures to protect the magnate.

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told the news agency that Iran has been threatening US officials for years in revenge for the attack that Trump ordered in 2020, which killed General Qasem Soleimani, former head of the force, Quds of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Due to these threats, former senior Trump administration officials involved in that operation still have escorts. They include former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton.

“As we have said on numerous occasions, we have been monitoring Iranian threats against former Trump Administration officials for years. These threats emanate from Iran's desire to take revenge for the death of Qasem Soleimani. We consider this national security matter to be of the highest priority,” Watson stressed, according to the media.

The spokesperson also assured that no link has been identified between the man who shot Trump and other possible foreign agents. According to the FBI, which is leading the investigation, the attacker acted alone and used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle that had been legally purchased by his father.

The Secret Service is currently under great scrutiny for failures that may have occurred that allowed an assassination attempt on Trump, the first such incident since then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

The U.S. government has announced that it will carry out an independent investigation into the failures and has also reinforced Trump's security detail and provided Secret Service agents to the independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.