US authorities received intelligence from a source in recent weeks about an Iranian plot to try to assassinate Donald Trump, a development that led the Secret Service to increase security around the former president in recent weeks, according to multiple people familiar with the matter who spoke to CNN.
The sources said there was no indication that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin who tried to kill the former president on Saturday, was connected to the plot.
The existence of an intelligence threat from a hostile foreign intelligence agency — and the heightened security measures for Trump — raises new questions about security lapses at Saturday’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and how a 20-year-old man was able to reach a nearby rooftop to fire shots that wounded the former president, CNN reported.
It is unclear whether details of the Iranian threat were shared with the Trump campaign, which said in a statement: “We do not comment on President Trump’s security detail. All questions should be directed to the United States Secret Service.”
The Secret Service “recently added protective resources and capabilities to the former president’s security detail,” agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement Sunday. Secret Service officials repeatedly warned the Trump campaign against holding outdoor rallies, which pose greater risks than events to which the agency can better control access, people familiar with the matter said. The warnings were more general in nature, the sources said.