The Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump, explained

The fallout from the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump continues to unfold, with news now breaking that security for Trump’s Pennsylvania rally was boosted in response to another, seemingly separate, assassination plot by Iran. 

For those who (somehow) missed it, the presidential candidate was injured during an assassination attempt while speaking at a rally held in Butler, Pennsylvania over the weekend. The event left two people dead, including the alleged gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks. 

Now, it’s being reported that security efforts were enhanced ahead of the rally after the Secret Service got word of another potential attack led by Iran. So what exactly was this unconnected threat, and why did the boosted security still fail in protecting Trump?

What was the plan?

Two US officials revealed that a threat from Iran had prompted an increase in security measures for the Trump rally in Pennsylvania. The officials, who spoke anonymously, said it was the Biden Administration who first gained knowledge of the Iranian threat, and who then informed the Secret Service. 

The information was passed on to the lead agent in Trump’s protection detail. Upon learning of the threat, Trump’s security detail was said to have ramped up their “resources and assets for the protection” of the former president. All of this is said to have occurred before the rally, where the increased resources still did not prevent Trump from a would-be assassin.

There is no indication that Crooks was connected to the Iranian threat, according to CNN. Instead, it’s thought the threat from Iran might’ve stemmed from Trump’s order to have Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian military officer, killed in 2020. In any case, Iran’s mission to the United Nations dismissed the idea that the threat was in retaliation to Soleimani’s killing, describing those accusations “unsubstantiated and malicious.” 

For their part, the National Security Council reiterated that they have been “tracking Iranian threats against former Trump administration officials for years.” 

All of this is geopolitical-speak which means that security was ramped up for an unrelated Trump threat before the rally, only for Crooks to still carry out an almost-assassination. This new Iranian threat adds to broader questions around the failures of Trump’s security detail, both in their identification of the threat and their response to it. 

As for the response from the Trump camp, well, they’re keeping pretty tight-lipped. “We do not comment on President Trump’s security detail,” the Trump campaign said. “All questions should be directed to The United States Secret Service.”

In any case, the investigation into both the assassination attempt — which many have touted as orchestrated — and the response of the security detail remains ongoing, so there’s sure to be even more developments as the case unfolds.