CNN: Iran plot to kill Trump. Tehran: unfounded accusations
According to sources, there is no indication that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man who attempted to kill the former president on Saturday, is connected to the plot
2' min read
2' min read
In recent weeks, US authorities have obtained information about a plot by Iran to attempt to assassinate Donald Trump, a development that has led the intelligence services to increase security around the former president in recent weeks, several people briefed on the matter told CNN.
There is no indication that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the alleged assassin who tried to kill the former president on Saturday, was connected to the plot, the sources said.
Iran has repeatedly threatened revenge for the US military's killing of Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in January 2020. And all senior Trump administration officials working on national security have benefited from strict security measures after leaving office. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmini, the day after the assassination attempt on the tycoon, had spoken of a strengthening of his security detail recently without specifying why.
Iranian response: 'Unsubstantiated and damaging accusations'
Also via CNN, Tehran denied having organised the plot. "These accusations are unfounded and damaging. From the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Trump is a criminal who must be prosecuted and punished in a court of law for ordering the assassination of General Soleimani. Iran has chosen the legal route to bring him to justice,' a spokesman for the Iranian mission to the UN told CNN.
Unanswered security questions
.The existence of a threat from a hostile foreign intelligence agency - and increased security for Trump - raises new questions about the security lapses at Saturday's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and how a 20-year-old man managed to gain access to a nearby rooftop to fire shots that injured the former president.
