The former president’s campaign issued a statement amid heightened concerns for the Republican nominee’s safety.
Former President Donald Trump, who has already survived two assassination attempts, has received a briefing on “real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him,” his campaign said in a Sept. 24 news release.
The office of the Director of National Intelligence briefed the former president about “ongoing threats from the Iran terror regime,” his campaign said.
“Intelligence officials have identified that these continued and coordinated attacks have heightened in the past few months,” the release continued, adding that law-enforcement officials “across all agencies are working to ensure President Trump is protected and the election is free from interference.”
The revelations come in the thick of the presidential election campaign. The former president and current Republican presidential nominee is scheduled for six campaign events this week.
Trump’s campaign says that the alleged Iranian plot is intended to “destabilize” the United States and “sow chaos.”
Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said Iranians are “terrified of the strength and resolve of President Trump.”
“He will let nothing stop him or get in his way to fight for the American people and to Make America Great Again,” Cheung said in the release.
Republican lawmakers and Trump allies continue expressing heightened concerns over the adequacy of Secret Service protection he is being provided.
Earlier Tuesday, federal charges of attempted assassination were filed against Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old Hawaii man arrested Sept. 15. A Secret Service agent spotted a gun barrel protruding from a bush and fence line while the former president was playing golf at a course he owns in West Palm Beach, Florida. The agent fired upon the hidden gunman, who was later identified as Routh; he was initially held on a pair of firearms charges.
Last year, Routh released a self-published book in which he wrote that Iran was “free to assassinate Trump.”
The latest briefing follows revelations that Iranians hacked the Trump campaign’s data and sent it via unsolicited emails to President Joe Biden’s campaign while he was still running for reelection. Since then, Vice President Kamala Harris has become the Democratic Party’s nominee.
The Epoch Times contacted Harris’ campaign for comment in response to the Trump campaign’s news release about the Iranian threat but received no reply prior to publication.
The U.S. Secret Service, which is charged with protecting dignitaries such as current and former presidents and political candidates, has faced scrutiny since a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, exposed security failures. A rooftop gunman opened fire, killing one spectator and wounding three other people, including Trump.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Sept. 24 sent a letter to the acting Secret Service director, Ronald Rowe, regarding “a new whistleblower allegation that the Secret Service effectively forced the Trump campaign to cancel an upcoming event in Wisconsin.”
On that same night of the planned Trump rally, the Secret Service “secured a rally for Vice President Harris in Madison, Wisconsin,” Hawley said, according to the whistleblower.
This is an “apparent double standard” if the allegation is true, and “raises troubling questions,” Hawley said.
He expressed concern that the Secret Service’s actions “may be affecting the conduct of the presidential campaign.”
Hawley asked Rowe to respond to questions related to the whistleblower’s allegations within a week.
The Epoch Times has sought comment from the Secret Service.
