Former US President Donald Trump was attacked by a gunman while addressing supporters at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, leaving one rallygoer dead and two wounded. US secret services said they had neutralised the gunman, who fired multiple rounds at the podium from an elevated position outside the rally area.
Following an investigation, the FBI announced that an assassination attempt had been made and that the individual killed at the scene was 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
New details revealed
According to U.S. media, authorities in Washington have received information from intelligence sources in recent weeks about an Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump.
U.S. national security officials said the Secret Service and people close to Trump were informed of the threat before Saturday’s rally.
“In response to the growing threat, the Secret Service has increased resources and assets to protect President Trump,” the official said. “This was all before Saturday,” he said.
Secret Service officials have repeatedly warned Trump aides not to hold outdoor rallies, according to a person familiar with the matter, though they noted those warnings are “more general in nature.”
Officials noted some spontaneous events that the Secret Service was not notified of in advance and were not arranged after the warning.
Officials said the assassination attempt by Thomas Matthew Crooks had nothing to do with Iran-related intelligence.
National Security Council spokesman Adrian Watson also said, “At this time there are no known links between the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, and any other individuals.”
The attempt, which President Trump was lucky to escape despite intelligence reports, will likely raise new questions about the Secret Service.
There is currently controversy over the Secret Service allowing President Trump, who suffered an ear injury in an assassination attempt, to show his head before being removed from the podium.
The police are in the same building as the attacker.
Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the U.S. Secret Service, who came under fire, said local security forces had been assigned to secure the building where the attacker opened fire and confirmed that police were inside the building while the attacker was on the roof.
“There was local law enforcement in that building, there was police in the area covering the perimeter of the building,” Cheatle said.
Responding to comments that the armed assailant had been spotted by bystanders and identified as a potential suspect before opening fire, Cheatle noted that a “very short amount of time” had passed between when the assailant was spotted and when the shots were fired.
“We don’t have the details yet, but it was a very short period of time. It was a very short period of time to search for that individual, locate him, identify him and ultimately neutralize him,” Cheatle said.
“Those who killed Soleimani and those who gave the orders will pay the price.”
General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, was killed on the orders of then-US President Donald Trump on January 3, 2020. Tensions between the US and Iran reached a fever pitch following his assassination in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq.
Tensions between the two countries have eased somewhat since Joe Biden became president, but two years after the assassination, an animation of President Trump being assassinated was featured on the official website of Iran’s religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The animation included the phrase, “Those who killed Soleimani and those who gave the orders will pay the price.”
