USA US Presidential Elections 2024

[Bogeyman]

Secret Service ramped up security after receiving intel of Iranian plot to assassinate Trump; no known connection to shooting​

US authorities obtained intelligence from a human source in recent weeks on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate Donald Trump, a development that led to the Secret Service increasing security around the former president in recent weeks, multiple people briefed on the matter told CNN.

There’s no indication that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin who attempted to kill the former president on Saturday, was connected to the plot, the sources said.

The existence of the intelligence threat from a hostile foreign intelligence agency — and the enhanced security for Trump — raises new questions about the security lapses at the Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and how a 20-year-old man managed to access a nearby rooftop to fire shots that injured the former president.

It’s not clear whether the specifics of the Iran threat were shared with the Trump campaign, which said in a statement: “We do not comment on President Trump’s security detail. All questions should be directed to The United States Secret Service.”

The Secret Service recently “added protective resources and capabilities to the former President’s security detail,” agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement on Sunday.

Secret Service officials have warned the Trump campaign repeatedly against holding outdoor rallies, which pose greater risks than events to which the agency can better control access, people briefed on the matter said. The warnings have been more general in nature, the sources said.

At one point during this election cycle, the campaign stopped holding spontaneous off-the-record events where guests weren’t swept by Secret Service beforehand due to security concerns, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

The FBI, which is conducting the investigation into Saturday’s shooting, declined to comment.

CNN has requested comment from the Department of Homeland Security and the Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

Iran has repeatedly vowed revenge for the US military’s killing of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in January 2020. And former senior Trump administration officials who worked on national security have had tight security since leaving the government.

In August 2022, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against a member of the IRGC for allegedly trying to orchestrate the assassination of John Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security adviser. US prosecutors said the plot against Bolton was “likely in retaliation” for Soleimani’s assassination.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also a target of the Iranian assassination plot, according to a federal law enforcement source familiar with the investigation and a source close to Pompeo.

For months, law enforcement officials have been concerned about the persistent threat of Iran potentially attempting to assassinate former Trump officials and the former president himself, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. But the recent intelligence suggested a significant uptick in the threat, the sources told CNN.

Warnings about that operational planning have coincided with a noticeable surge of online messaging from Iranian accounts and state-backed media mentioning Trump, which has raised security concerns among US officials, one of the sources told CNN.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/16/politics/iran-plot-assassinate-trump-secret-service/index.html

@Kartal1 @TR_123456 @Sanchez @Yasar_TR @Zafer @Gary @Afif @Nilgiri

 

[Heartbang]

Secret Service ramped up security after receiving intel of Iranian plot to assassinate Trump; no known connection to shooting​

US authorities obtained intelligence from a human source in recent weeks on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate Donald Trump, a development that led to the Secret Service increasing security around the former president in recent weeks, multiple people briefed on the matter told CNN.

There’s no indication that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin who attempted to kill the former president on Saturday, was connected to the plot, the sources said.

The existence of the intelligence threat from a hostile foreign intelligence agency — and the enhanced security for Trump — raises new questions about the security lapses at the Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and how a 20-year-old man managed to access a nearby rooftop to fire shots that injured the former president.

It’s not clear whether the specifics of the Iran threat were shared with the Trump campaign, which said in a statement: “We do not comment on President Trump’s security detail. All questions should be directed to The United States Secret Service.”

The Secret Service recently “added protective resources and capabilities to the former President’s security detail,” agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement on Sunday.

Secret Service officials have warned the Trump campaign repeatedly against holding outdoor rallies, which pose greater risks than events to which the agency can better control access, people briefed on the matter said. The warnings have been more general in nature, the sources said.

At one point during this election cycle, the campaign stopped holding spontaneous off-the-record events where guests weren’t swept by Secret Service beforehand due to security concerns, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

The FBI, which is conducting the investigation into Saturday’s shooting, declined to comment.

CNN has requested comment from the Department of Homeland Security and the Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

Iran has repeatedly vowed revenge for the US military’s killing of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in January 2020. And former senior Trump administration officials who worked on national security have had tight security since leaving the government.

In August 2022, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against a member of the IRGC for allegedly trying to orchestrate the assassination of John Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security adviser. US prosecutors said the plot against Bolton was “likely in retaliation” for Soleimani’s assassination.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also a target of the Iranian assassination plot, according to a federal law enforcement source familiar with the investigation and a source close to Pompeo.

For months, law enforcement officials have been concerned about the persistent threat of Iran potentially attempting to assassinate former Trump officials and the former president himself, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. But the recent intelligence suggested a significant uptick in the threat, the sources told CNN.

Warnings about that operational planning have coincided with a noticeable surge of online messaging from Iranian accounts and state-backed media mentioning Trump, which has raised security concerns among US officials, one of the sources told CNN.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/16/politics/iran-plot-assassinate-trump-secret-service/index.html

@Kartal1 @TR_123456 @Sanchez @Yasar_TR @Zafer @Gary @Afif @Nilgiri

Consider me a skeptic.
This sounds like an effort for "pre-bunking" for another attempt.

 

[Bogeyman]

Secret Service ramped up security after receiving intel of Iranian plot to assassinate Trump; no known connection to shooting​

US authorities obtained intelligence from a human source in recent weeks on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate Donald Trump, a development that led to the Secret Service increasing security around the former president in recent weeks, multiple people briefed on the matter told CNN.

There’s no indication that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin who attempted to kill the former president on Saturday, was connected to the plot, the sources said.

The existence of the intelligence threat from a hostile foreign intelligence agency — and the enhanced security for Trump — raises new questions about the security lapses at the Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and how a 20-year-old man managed to access a nearby rooftop to fire shots that injured the former president.

It’s not clear whether the specifics of the Iran threat were shared with the Trump campaign, which said in a statement: “We do not comment on President Trump’s security detail. All questions should be directed to The United States Secret Service.”

The Secret Service recently “added protective resources and capabilities to the former President’s security detail,” agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement on Sunday.

Secret Service officials have warned the Trump campaign repeatedly against holding outdoor rallies, which pose greater risks than events to which the agency can better control access, people briefed on the matter said. The warnings have been more general in nature, the sources said.

At one point during this election cycle, the campaign stopped holding spontaneous off-the-record events where guests weren’t swept by Secret Service beforehand due to security concerns, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

The FBI, which is conducting the investigation into Saturday’s shooting, declined to comment.

CNN has requested comment from the Department of Homeland Security and the Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

Iran has repeatedly vowed revenge for the US military’s killing of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in January 2020. And former senior Trump administration officials who worked on national security have had tight security since leaving the government.

In August 2022, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against a member of the IRGC for allegedly trying to orchestrate the assassination of John Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security adviser. US prosecutors said the plot against Bolton was “likely in retaliation” for Soleimani’s assassination.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also a target of the Iranian assassination plot, according to a federal law enforcement source familiar with the investigation and a source close to Pompeo.

For months, law enforcement officials have been concerned about the persistent threat of Iran potentially attempting to assassinate former Trump officials and the former president himself, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. But the recent intelligence suggested a significant uptick in the threat, the sources told CNN.

Warnings about that operational planning have coincided with a noticeable surge of online messaging from Iranian accounts and state-backed media mentioning Trump, which has raised security concerns among US officials, one of the sources told CNN.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/16/politics/iran-plot-assassinate-trump-secret-service/index.html

@Kartal1 @TR_123456 @Sanchez @Yasar_TR @Zafer @Gary @Afif @Nilgiri

True or not, but the number of people who want to see Trump in a coffin is increasing day by day. That is a fact.

 

[Bogeyman]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1813292460333777354

 

[Bogeyman]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1813292460333777354

Here again, those who want Trump dead are flocking to him. The US killed Qasem Soleimani and then Ibrahim Raisi. I don't understand why you took this so lightly.

 

[Hari Sud]

American elections have been thrown into turmoil.

At a rally in Pennsylvania, eight random shots were fired, with one bullet grazing the ear of Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump. This incident has significantly impacted the upcoming U.S. elections. The undecided voters will soon make their decision, and the sympathy vote is likely to favor Donald Trump. In contrast, Democratic candidate and current President Joe Biden, who is often perceived as not fully in control due to his age, may lose some support.

It’s not just sympathy votes that might sway the election in Trump's favor. Joe Biden’s age and frequent public gaffes may further harm his candidacy. Under the pressure of public scrutiny, Biden’s mistakes could become more apparent.

Biden’s presidency has faced numerous challenges, not least of which is the January 6th, 2020, incident at the Capitol, which was portrayed as an insurrection but was essentially a public demonstration by Trump supporters that got out of hand. The Democrats’ decision to prosecute Trump resulted in mixed outcomes, inadvertently increasing his popularity.

Additionally, Biden’s decision to engage Russia through Ukraine has been controversial. Offering NATO membership to Ukraine provoked Russia, leading to an unnecessary war that has devastated Ukraine. The conflict has strained relations within NATO and impacted Europe's energy supplies, while benefiting U.S. arms manufacturers.

Biden also sparked diplomatic tensions with India over its oil imports from Russia. Instead of offering competitive oil prices, the U.S. criticized India, leading to strained relations and complications such as the Pannu Issue and delays in supplying GE-404 jet engines to India. U.S. Ambassador Eric Garcetti, a Democrat, has contributed to these tensions with his frequent criticisms of India.

Although some pessimistic writers foresee a divisive America, this is not the case. American democracy is resilient, having withstood significant challenges such as the Kennedy assassination, the Reagan shooting, and other incidents. It will overcome the current challenges as well, likely resulting in the election of a new administration.

There is a widespread desire for the war with Russia in Europe to end. Europe is already facing pressure from right-wing movements due to unchecked Muslim immigration and the ongoing war. It will be difficult for the current Biden administration to end the conflict, but a new leader and administration could bring the change needed to resolve it.

Additionally, issues such as gun control, abortion, and immigration from the Mexico-U.S. border have not been effectively addressed by the current administration. A stronger, different leadership is needed to tackle these challenges.

Economically, the U.S. is doing well, partly due to the temporary boost from the Ukraine war. However, the major challenge lies in breaking China's stranglehold over the American and European consumer goods and supply chain markets. China has become increasingly belligerent, especially in the Taiwan Strait, thanks to its accumulation of American dollars. Diversifying product imports and reducing the flow of American cash to China are essential.

These and other political issues await resolution by a new administration.

 

[Kartal1]

Here again, those who want Trump dead are flocking to him. The US killed Qasem Soleimani and then Ibrahim Raisi. I don't understand why you took this so lightly.

If such an attempt is organized by a foreign service or any kind of significant organization, the relevant services most probably already know.

Personal protection services of important statesmen in all of the countries around the world are the best informed services within their area of responsibility. They receive a fusion of intelligence reports gathered by all the possible intelligence gathering assets including national and partner services. Other than that most of them have a limited intelligence gathering capability which is assisted with the ability to request basically anything from a relevant service which could be CIA, FBI, NSA or whatever other service the need dictates when it comes to the US.

If there is a plot, especially by a foreign service I think the US already works on the case as we saw with the alleged IRGC operative. This is indeed something big as you described it, but it is not a precedent. Similar plots are uncovered probably on monthly, even weekly basis, but the big news are that foreign service participates.

My humble opinion is that the biggest threat to any US statesmen comes from within the US itself. Highly polarized society, little to no gun control, mental illness rate and fanaticism are among the biggest factors that pose a threat to the security of these VIPs. I think the biggest threat to the US statesmen comes from the lone wolves who take the decision spontaneously and by some chance manage to keep the Secret Service field teams off guard.

In the nature of every successful VIP protection service lies one principle, "The Best Measure is the Preventive Measure". All of the work of these services from the analytical, surveillance to the personal protection (bodyguard) teams on the field is done within this principle. If we see an armed men running to attack the VIP or as in the latest case, open fire from a distance, but the service managed to neutralize the threat fast enough and evacuate its VIP unharmed, this doesn't mean that the job of the protection service is a success. In the most cases where the situation is so out of control so an armed men have the chance to aim at the VIP, even if you have the best warfighters, personal protection guards, or even a Terminator on your disposal, maybe 75% of the success in this hit is tied to the professionalism of the attacker and an unknown percentage of luck (my own estimation). The percentages we are talking about are not something that a VIP protection service can rely upon, especially when the US President or any other statesmen of a similar importance is on the stake. In this particular case my assessment is that the security measures at the event were not properly implemented and we can probably talk about a lack of intelligence, but we can't say for sure about that last one until we know if the attacker was previously taking place in a watch list.

Billions of dollars in budget are annually provided for the intelligence community to keep a track on these things. We don't know exactly how many millions of people are "victims" of the US mass surveillance programs inside the US and abroad. The US is not playing a game when it comes to intelligence and it is something close to the impossible to organize such an attack where more than 5 people know about, inside the HQ of the IRGC and it gets unnoticed by the CIA or later this plot is not detected by another relevant service. Lone wolf attacker with a clear background that was not hooked onto a surveillance program would be very different case tho. In this case the organization of the event and specific security measures play the biggest role as making your VIP wear a body armor and your surveillance teams having the angle so they can cover their sectors of responsibility in the best ways possible.

Interesting fact:

Not connected to this specific case, but I would like to say that President Erdogan is one of the best defended presidents in the world. The amount of work around the planning of one of his events is just insane.

One of the biggest factors in the successful work of the Turkish Presidential Protection Department apart from the usage of the highest technology by this service is the input of one man named Sukru Cukurlu. Sukru Cukurlu is the man who established the CAT, Counter-Attack Teams of the current presidential protection service. He also established the close protection service on presidential level which is the ancestor of the Turkish Presidential Protection Department. In 1993 he took a bullet destined at President Suleyman Demirel. He was sent on oversea special training in the US Secret Service and FBI. In 2011 he was requested by the US Government and departed for the US where he provided training to the FBI. He managed to create a fusion between the best US and Israeli practices in the field and is also a man who contributed the most for the establishment of the Turkish "style" of doing this job. He is currently one dangerous old man

 

[Bogeyman]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1813359434925576279

 

[Bogeyman]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1813373197368099183

 

[Afif]

If such an attempt is organized by a foreign service or any kind of significant organization, the relevant services most probably already know.

Personal protection services of important statesmen in all of the countries around the world are the best informed services within their area of responsibility. They receive a fusion of intelligence reports gathered by all the possible intelligence gathering assets including national and partner services. Other than that most of them have a limited intelligence gathering capability which is assisted with the ability to request basically anything from a relevant service which could be CIA, FBI, NSA or whatever other service the need dictates when it comes to the US.

If there is a plot, especially by a foreign service I think the US already works on the case as we saw with the alleged IRGC operative. This is indeed something big as you described it, but it is not a precedent. Similar plots are uncovered probably on monthly, even weekly basis, but the big news are that foreign service participates.

My humble opinion is that the biggest threat to any US statesmen comes from within the US itself. Highly polarized society, little to no gun control, mental illness rate and fanaticism are among the biggest factors that pose a threat to the security of these VIPs. I think the biggest threat to the US statesmen comes from the lone wolves who take the decision spontaneously and by some chance manage to keep the Secret Service field teams off guard.

In the nature of every successful VIP protection service lies one principle, "The Best Measure is the Preventive Measure". All of the work of these services from the analytical, surveillance to the personal protection (bodyguard) teams on the field is done within this principle. If we see an armed men running to attack the VIP or as in the latest case, open fire from a distance, but the service managed to neutralize the threat fast enough and evacuate its VIP unharmed, this doesn't mean that the job of the protection service is a success. In the most cases where the situation is so out of control so an armed men have the chance to aim at the VIP, even if you have the best warfighters, personal protection guards, or even a Terminator on your disposal, maybe 75% of the success in this hit is tied to the professionalism of the attacker and an unknown percentage of luck (my own estimation). The percentages we are talking about are not something that a VIP protection service can rely upon, especially when the US President or any other statesmen of a similar importance is on the stake. In this particular case my assessment is that the security measures at the event were not properly implemented and we can probably talk about a lack of intelligence, but we can't say for sure about that last one until we know if the attacker was previously taking place in a watch list.

Billions of dollars in budget are annually provided for the intelligence community to keep a track on these things. We don't know exactly how many millions of people are "victims" of the US mass surveillance programs inside the US and abroad. The US is not playing a game when it comes to intelligence and it is something close to the impossible to organize such an attack where more than 5 people know about, inside the HQ of the IRGC and it gets unnoticed by the CIA or later this plot is not detected by another relevant service. Lone wolf attacker with a clear background that was not hooked onto a surveillance program would be very different case tho. In this case the organization of the event and specific security measures play the biggest role as making your VIP wear a body armor and your surveillance teams having the angle so they can cover their sectors of responsibility in the best ways possible.

Great post but I would like to disagree here.

IMO, it is possible for a decent intelligence agency (no need to be top tier) to silently organize successful assassinations against world leaders. It's a deterrence factor that's keeping the states from acting in such way. The same reason countries don't fight James Bond style intelligence war. There is almost no way to keep the trail hidden in aftermath. And once you do something like that, there is no way to protect your own VIPs unless they all go to underground nuclear bunker for life. It would start a cycle that is incrediblely disruptive to normal state functionalities and world systems with no clear benefit for either sides. Hence why state actors does not engage in such activity.

 

[Bogeyman]

Great post but I would like to disagree here.

IMO, it is possible for a decent intelligence agency (no need to be top tier) to silently organize successful assassinations against world leaders. It's a deterrence factor that's keeping the states from acting in such way. The same reason countries don't fight James Bond style intelligence war. There is almost no way to keep the trail hidden in aftermath. And once you do something like that, there is no way to protect your own VIPs unless they all go to underground nuclear bunker for life. It would start a cycle that is incrediblely disruptive to normal state functionalities and world systems with no clear benefit for either sides. Hence why state actors does not engage in such activity.

I also do not agree with the idea that there is full coordination between institutions in the US. It is known that there is a clique war especially between the FBI and CIA. Likewise, the FBI raided the case of Trump taking secret documents from the White House to his home. During these raids, it was revealed that they raided with "shoot orders" if they were prevented. So I would not be surprised if those with authority within the FBI wanted to see Trump die.