Upon learning of the threat, the Biden administration reached out to senior officials at the Secret Service to make them aware, the officials said, adding it was shared with the lead agent on Trump’s protection detail and the Trump campaign.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy jnr.Credit: AP
That prompted the agency to surge resources and assets. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.
The additional resources did not prevent Saturday’s attack at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania that left Trump injured to the ear, killed one rallygoer and severely injured two more when a 20-year-old with an AR-style rifle opened fire from a nearby rooftop.
“As we have said many times, we have been tracking Iranian threats against former Trump administration officials for years, dating back to the last administration,” said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.
“These threats arise from Iran’s desire to seek revenge for the killing of Qassem Soleimani. We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority.”
Trump’s call with Kennedy
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Trump’s phone call with Kennedy also included a conversation about vaccines, which echoed some of Kennedy’s earlier views. The environmental lawyer has spread misinformation on vaccines for years.
“When you feed a baby, Bobby,” Trump said, “a vaccination that is like 38 different vaccines, and it looks like it’s meant for a horse, not a, you know, 10-pound or 20-pound baby… and then you see the baby all of a sudden starting to change radically.
“And then you hear that it doesn’t have an impact, right? But you and I talked about that a long time ago.”
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After the call spread on social media, Kennedy on Tuesday apologised to Trump on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
“When President Trump called me I was taping with an in-house videographer,” he wrote. “I should have ordered the videographer to stop recording immediately. I am mortified that this was posted.”
A day earlier, Kennedy posted on X about meeting with Trump, writing, “Our main topic was national unity, and I hope to meet with Democratic leaders about that as well. No, I am not dropping out of the race.”
The Democratic Party views Kennedy, who began the race as a Democratic candidate before declaring himself independent, as an election “spoiler” who would take votes away from Biden and in effect help Trump win the White House.
Democratic National Committee spokesperson Matt Corridoni said on X that Kennedy also had dinner with conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson at the Republican National Convention, taking place in Milwaukee this week.
“He (Kennedy) has no path to victory in this race and is nothing more than a spoiler for Trump,” said DNC Communications Adviser Lis Smith.
The Kennedy campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters, AP
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