Donald Trump survived not one but two assassination attempts during his ’24 presidential campaign, with the first one at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, coming within millimeters of succeeding. Both appeared to have been lone wolf attempts, deranged men with bizarre grudges and dreams of infamy.
But there was another worry that haunted the campaign: the very credible threat that Iran would put a hit on the once and future president. The mullahs, who seem to want to keep their society in the 12th century forever, still held a massive grudge against Trump because he ordered the missile strike that took out the murderous Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
A new book claims that the threat of Iranian retaliation was taken more seriously than previously reported by Team Trump and that they went to great lengths to protect him:
Iran’s threat to assassinate Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign was far more serious than publicly known — and led to extraordinary precautions by his team that included using a decoy plane to avert a feared attempt on his life…
- Law enforcement officials warned Trump last year that Tehran had placed operatives in the U.S. with access to surface-to-air missiles.
- Trump’s team worried that the Iranians could try to down his easily recognizable personal jet — better known as “Trump Force One” — as it was taking off or landing.
- The concern intensified after a foiled assassination attempt of Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sept. 15.
Iran hasn’t been linked to that incident or the shooting in Pennsylvania two months earlier, in which a bullet nicked Trump in the ear.
Although the assassination attempts weren’t linked to the Islamic Republic, the Trump team was spooked enough to start taking major precautions:
…at one point soon after the Florida incident, Trump’s security detail was concerned enough about the Iran threat that it had Trump travel to an event on a decoy plan owned by Steve Witkoff. He’s a Trump friend and real estate executive who’s now Trump’s envoy to the Middle East.
Much of Trump’s staff traveled on Trump Force One that day…
Co-campaign managers Susie Wiles — now White House chief of staff — and Chris LaCivita decided to split up. Wiles traveled on Witkoff’s plane with Trump while LaCivita joined staffers on Trump Force One. […]
— Read More: redstate.com
