The Secret Service had stepped up protection for Donald Trump several weeks ago in the face of the “threat” of an Iranian plan to kill the Republican candidate, unrelated to Saturday’s assassination attempt, according to US media.
CNN and other media outlets reported Tuesday that U.S. authorities had received intelligence from a “human source” about a plan by Tehran against the former U.S. president, prompting the Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting American political figures, to raise its protection level.
The information comes as the Secret Service has come under intense criticism over how a gunman could have gotten so close to the former president. An independent investigation into the assassination attempt that killed a firefighter who attended the rally has been called by President Joe Biden.
The US National Security Council responded to the information published on Tuesday by saying that it had been following “for years Iran’s threats against the former administration of Donald Trump”, Tehran not hiding its desire for revenge after the death of Qassem Soleimani, former architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East, killed by a US drone attack in January 2020 in Baghdad.
“We consider this to be a matter of national and homeland security of the utmost importance,” Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
But the investigation into the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday “has not identified any links between the shooter and any possible accomplices or conspirators, foreign or domestic,” she added.
She referred questions about “additional measures put in place in recent weeks” to the Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said his service and other agencies “constantly receive information about potential threats and take steps to adjust resources as necessary.”
“We cannot comment on any particular threat other than to say that the Secret Service takes them very seriously and responds accordingly,” he added in a statement.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond.