Advisers to Donald Trump are considering whether to change his travel plans in the wake of threats on his life from Iran and two assassination attempts, people familiar with the matter said, a move that could affect how the Republican nominee conducts his campaign in the final days of the presidential election.
Those discussions include what types of events can be secured and the possibility of Trump traveling less on “Trump-branded” planes, according to two people briefed on the talks.
Secret Service officials had previously suggested Trump’s team consider further changes to its travel plans and campaign schedule in the wake of two assassination attempts on him in the space of about two months.
Trump and his team have also received death threats from Iran in retaliation for ordering the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in early 2020, while Iran has also led the hacking of campaign emails. The Trump campaign said two federal intelligence officials briefed Trump on the Iranian threats on Tuesday. Officials with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the umbrella agency that helps coordinate the activities of the national intelligence agencies, acknowledged receiving the briefing but declined to comment on it Tuesday or Wednesday.
National Security Council spokesman Sean Sabet condemned the Iranian threats and said the administration was treating them as a “highest national and homeland security priority.” He said the administration had “publicly and privately warned Iran that it would face severe consequences if it did not cease this activity.”
As an example of what the travel looks like, the Trump campaign used multiple planes on Wednesday to shuttle the candidate and his team to an event in North Carolina, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A Secret Service spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Trump has always been a tougher figure for officials to follow than his predecessors, both in office and after. He owns multiple properties, is set in his ways and doesn’t like to change his routine. He is also happiest when greeting people on the terrace of his club. Now his aides are being forced to consider adjusting his travel schedule, after being advised that he would not be able to secure enough of at least one event in time for the planned visit. He has also told his advisers that he has no plans to play golf on his own course, which is his main source of relaxation.
The most recent assassination attempt occurred on September 15 at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. According to authorities, suspect Ryan W. Routh, 58, of Hawaii, was watching Trump’s golf course, hiding in the brush surrounding the course and waiting for Trump to come within range of a semi-automatic rifle. A Secret Service agent who had scouted the course ahead of Trump spotted Routh’s gun barrel in the brush and began firing. Routh fled the golf course and attempted to flee in a car, but was captured by police on the highway 45 minutes later. Routh has been charged with two firearms charges, but federal prosecutors plan to pursue an assassination attempt charge.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Chung did not answer specific questions about how the campaign plans to respond to the threats, instead blaming Democrats in general, and Vice President Kamala Harris in particular, for his comments “empowering” those who want to do harm to Trump.
Former president and current Republican presidential candidate Trump is proud of his plane; it has his name inscribed in gold and his advisers call it Trump Force One. Trump wanted to continue using it as president after the 2016 election, but the Secret Service didn’t support it. Trump has also used his plane as a political backdrop, flying it to rallies in front of crowds or having it ride behind him at events in airplane hangars as a show of power comparable to Air Force One.
But Trump’s personal plane – a converted Boeing 757 that he bought from billionaire Paul Allen two decades ago – does not have the same protective equipment as Air Force One.
Using other private planes could add hundreds of thousands of dollars to campaign expenses, and Trump’s advisers are devoting significant time and effort to security arrangements, according to three people briefed on the matter.
Trump’s team has also dealt with other threats that have disrupted recent visits.
Drones were seen flying over Trump’s motorcade during at least one campaign stop, and the Secret Service scrambled motorcade vehicles in different directions to confuse people about which vehicle Trump was in, according to two people briefed on the discussions. And a visit to a Polish shrine in Pennsylvania scheduled for last Sunday was partially canceled for security reasons, according to three people briefed on the matter.
Trump addressed the Iranian threat on his social media website on Wednesday. “Iran has already tried and it didn’t work. They will try again,” Trump wrote on Truth Social just after midnight. “It’s not a good situation for anyone. I am surrounded by more men, guns and weapons than I’ve ever seen in my life.”
In private discussions with aides, Trump repeatedly questioned why the Biden administration wasn’t doing more to publicly condemn the threats he faces and warn Iran, according to two people familiar with his remarks.
“If this was Kamala or any other Democrat, we would be blowing up Iran,” one of the people, speaking on condition of anonymity, recalled Trump saying. “They won’t do anything, because I’m here.”
Some of Trump’s aides have said then-President Bill Clinton ordered Tomahawk cruise missiles to be fired at Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad following the assassination attempt on his predecessor, George H.W. Bush.
Trump made similar comments at an event in Mint Hill, North Carolina, on Wednesday, suggesting the administration should warn foreign leaders who threaten Trump that they will be blown “to smithereens” if they do him any harm.
“And there couldn’t be a greater threat,” Trump said, adding, “Right now we don’t have that leadership, we don’t have the leadership that we need.” He noted that the Iranian president is in the US for the UN General Assembly and is being guarded by law enforcement officials, yet as a former president he remains under threat, which he called a strange situation.
Trump has told aides that the threat is “unthinkable,” but he has shown occasional signs of being shaken by the assassination attempt. At a rally on Long Island last week, he appeared visibly startled when he thought he saw someone approaching the stage while speaking. He chuckled and acknowledged that he has “the yips,” referring to his sensitive nature.
Trump has complained to aides that the threats he faces, and the resulting increased security measures, are a form of “foreign election interference” aimed at disrupting his election campaign.
Trump and his team support and protect the former president’s Secret Service unit, but have concerns about Secret Service headquarters and whether the agency’s leadership had previously approved an adequate level of protection for Trump. Tensions between the Trump campaign and the Secret Service deepened significantly following the near-miss shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
The Senate unanimously passed a bill this week that would require the Secret Service to provide presidential and vice presidential nominees with the same level of protection as the sitting president and vice president. The bill has already passed the House and is now before President Biden.
In a social media post, Trump praised the recent bipartisan Congressional vote to approve additional funding for the Secret Service. “Great to see Republicans and Democrats united on something,” he wrote. “An attack on a former President is a death wish for the attacker!”
There are persistent concerns among Trump’s advisers that the two would-be assassins, Routh and Thomas Crooks, who was shot and killed by a Butler police officer moments after opening fire on Trump, may have ties to a foreign government. Trump suggested at an event in North Carolina on Wednesday that the two assassination attempts may have ties to Iran. There is no evidence to date that either Routh or Crooks were working for a foreign country.
The third man, Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national with ties to Iran, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he participated in a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate President Trump.
Trump still wants to hold large, high-profile events, including a rally at Madison Square Garden planned for late October, and has also announced he will return to Butler on October 5, where he was grazed in the ear by what the FBI later said was a bullet or shrapnel.
The University of Alabama confirmed that Trump plans to attend Saturday’s key football game against the University of Georgia in Tuscaloosa, where the stadium can accommodate about 100,000 spectators.
“Campus safety has been and will continue to be our top priority,” the university said in a statement, adding that university police “work closely with the U.S. Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies to ensure safety.”
The changes to security procedures are a stark difference from the early days of Mr Trump’s third presidential run, when people were free to enter and leave his private club and estate, Mar-a-Lago, at times with virtually no screening.
Recently, the protocols have been tightened significantly.
Trump spoke about the recent assassination attempt at an event in Savannah, Georgia on Tuesday, telling the audience, “My job is a very dangerous one.”
By comparison, he pointed to the fatality rate for race car drivers and bull riders as “one-tenth of one percent.”
“The president?” he said. “I don’t want to give you a percentage, but being president is a very dangerous job.”
