As former President Donald Trump is set to return on Saturday to the site of his near-miss assassination attempt three months ago in Pennsylvania, he faces swirling threats against his life from Iran.
Trump will hold a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, as he and Democratic opponent Kamala Harris campaign feverishly to win the crucial battleground state, which is nearly a deadlock in recent polls.
Trump told NewsNation that he felt it was necessary to return to the place where 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired several rounds at the GOP nominee, with one striking his ear, before the would-be assassin was shot dead.
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“I’m going back to Butler because I feel I have an obligation to go back to Butler,” he said. “We never finished what we were supposed to do. And I said that day when I was shot, I said, ‘We’re coming back. We’re gonna come back.’”
The event in the town of 13,000 will feature far heightened security compared to the July rally, for which the Secret Service faced significant criticisms for failures that left Trump vulnerable to the gunfire.
But it also comes as Trump has faced increased “real and specific threats” against his life from Iran as retaliation for his decision to assassinate Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in Jan. 2020. The former president revealed that he was briefed on the matter by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Sept. 24.
Republican Senator Mike Rounds, who is on the Senate intelligence committee, said that there isn’t any evidence that Iran was behind the July assassination attempt—or the incident last month in which a man with a gun stalked Trump while he was golfing.
“But I think there is also clear evidence out there that Iran has made it clear that they intend to—if they could, they would try to assassinate the former president,” Rounds said. “And they've talked about assassinating other senior members in leadership.”
Trump has taken to Truth Social to demand greater Secret Service protection in light of the threats, blaming his political rivals for the alleged lack of adequate security.
“The Democrats are interfering with my Campaign by not giving us the proper number of people within Secret Service that are necessary for Security,” he wrote. “We need more Secret Service and we need them NOW.”
Despite the threats, and the complaints about inadequate security, Trump has moved forward with a number of potentially risky public appearances—for instance, he attended a recent college football game between Georgia and Alabama alongside over 100,000 fans.
The security measures at the rally today will include enhancements not present at the rally in July. For one, Trump will reportedly appear behind ballistic glass, as he has since shortly after the shooting. Pennsylvania State Police will also have a more active presence at this event, and all security officials will have clearer directions, CNN reported.
