Multiple former Trump administration officials believe the Biden administration needs to do more to prevent Iran from retaliating against them in response to the assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The U.S. military carried out an airstrike in January 2020 targeting Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force, and Tehran vowed to avenge his killing by going after the Trump administration officials involved in the strike — a threat that remains active to this day.
The threat toward these former U.S. officials has been known for years, though it has reemerged publicly after U.S. officials indicated earlier this week that they had new intelligence of a potential plot targeting former President Donald Trump himself.
“We’ve got to do better than just playing defense,” former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper acknowledged during the Aspen Security Forum on Wednesday. “Waiting for them to get lucky, or not get lucky, to me, is not a winning strategy, not the least because of our own personal livelihoods and what that may mean to our welfare. But think about it, if Iran were to conduct or hire somebody to kill the former president of the United States, what would that mean? That would mean war in my mind.”
Several other Trump officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, national security advisers John Bolton and Robert O’Brien, former Iran envoy Brian Hook, retired Gen. Mark Milley, former deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger, and two former National Security Council officials, Victoria Coates and Robert Greenway, are among those believed to be potential targets. The higher-ranking former officials in this list still have Secret Service protection.
Bolton, who still has Secret Service protection, told the Washington Examiner that the Biden administration has “basically” let Iran “escape the consequences” of several actions against U.S. interests in the region and abroad.
“I think there are things that [the administration] could do inside Iran to make it clear that we’re not going to wait for an attack to succeed, that this is, this is unacceptable behavior and that we’re not going to tolerate it,” he explained.
The Department of Justice unsealed charges in August 2022 accusing Shahram Poursafi, an Iranian national and IRGC member, of attempting to arrange the murder of Bolton. Poursafi was accused of agreeing to pay an informant $300,000 to kill him, and the Iranian noted he had an additional “job” for the individual, which he’d pay $1 million for the source to accomplish.
The undercover law enforcement source shared publicly available information with Poursafi that suggested Bolton would be traveling outside Washington, D.C., during the time frame he indicated he wanted the former national security adviser murdered. Within an hour, Poursafi was able to inform the source that the information was false and provided the source with specific information about Bolton’s schedule that the DOJ didn’t believe had been publicly available.
Pompeo, during an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, said the threat against them is “definitely real and definitely active.”
Pottinger, Coats, and Greenway wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking for additional protection for themselves and their families in January 2023 citing an “imminent threat,” according to NBC News. They did not get a response from the Justice Department, Greenway confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
“The government ought to assume responsibility for protecting its citizens like one and especially those assert otherwise you’re discouraging people from doing that, doing their jobs. And second, it’s just good principle,” he said.
Greenway emphasized his concern for his family, citing Iran’s tendency for attacks that include collateral casualties.
“We don’t want to be the only people who they’re targeting that have no protection,” Greenway added, noting that there is a spectrum of options the administration could’ve utilized, not just offering them full-time security.
This long-documented threat became more heightened recently and was specific to the former president, prompting the Service Service to provide Trump’s detail with more resources.
NSC spokesman John Kirby told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that they have known about this new intelligence indicating a possible plot targeting Trump “for quite a while,” though he declined to specify when exactly that occurred and whether any other former administration is at heightened risk based on this intel.
“We have repeatedly and consistently briefed the public and Congress on the existence of these threats. We have repeatedly met at the highest levels of our government to develop and implement a comprehensive response to these threats,” NSC spokeswoman Adrienne Watson told the Washington Examiner earlier this week. “As part of that comprehensive response, we have invested extraordinary resources in developing additional information about these threats, disrupting individuals involved in these threats, enhancing the protective arrangements of potential targets of these threats, engaging with foreign partners, and directly warning Iran.”
The Secret Service provided additional resources to Trump’s detail, which did not stop an unrelated assassination attempt against him last weekend.
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“Upon learning of the increased threat, NSC directly contacted USSS at a senior level to be absolutely sure they continued to track the latest reporting,” a national security official told the Washington Examiner. “USSS shared this information with the detail lead, and the Trump campaign was made aware of an evolving threat. In response, Secret Service surged resources and assets for the protection of former President Trump.”
Thomas Matthew Brooks, 20, allegedly scaled a building less than 150 yards from where Trump was speaking to a crowd of supporters and fired multiple rounds at him. One bullet grazed him, and a spectator was killed and two others injured. Law enforcement officials shot and killed him almost immediately.