Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) shared a U.S. Open Source Intelligence Monitor report asserting that “U.S. President Joe Biden has instructed his National Security Council to make it clear to Iran, that an Assassination Attempt against Former President Donald J. Trump would be seen as an Act of War.”
Waltz used the news to press the Biden administration to provide additional security for former President Trump, who has recently faced an assassination attempt in Butler, PA and a subsequent apparent assassination attempt in Florida, though in the latter case the presumptive shooter was apprehended without firing a shot.
Waltz commented on the intel: “Finally….now give President Trump the military protective assets he needs in case Iran doesn’t believe you.”
Finally….now give President Trump the military protective assets he needs in case Iran doesn’t believe you. https://t.co/IPaRdlqANc
— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) October 14, 2024
Waltz is echoing a request from the Trump campaign that he receive military transport during the remainder of the campaign — a request the Washington Post described as “extraordinary and unprecedented,” reporting that “no nominee in recent history has been ferried around in military planes ahead of an election.”
The request would have military protections augment the Secret Service protections already in place for Trump, which have been upgraded and enlarged since the Butler incident.
A master at political optics, Trump understands that such protections would lend him an aura of power during the campaign’s final weeks and extend the impression he already conveys of running something of a shadow presidency from his Florida resort-residence, where he has received international figures like the autocratic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during his post-presidency.
Congressman Waltz, who prominently features a book blurb from Trump on his social media accounts, has said the prospect of Iran trying to kill Trump “keeps him up at night.”
[NOTE: Neither assassination attempt on the former President has been linked to Iran, which has for decades issued death threats to the United States — not just to Trump. A Reuters article from earlier this year is titled: Iranian president sworn in with chants of ‘Death to America, Israel’.]
Iran sees President Trump’s return as an existential threat to their control and the regime is plotting to assassinate him using its intelligence and military assets.
Trump MUST have the MAXIMUM level of protection – even if it means traveling on U.S. military aircraft – between… pic.twitter.com/jdsSPtV25f
— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) October 14, 2024
Trump himself has talked about being an Iranian target, saying he was told by American intelligence that Iran wanted to “destabilize” the U.S. election by killing him. NBC reported that a “spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Tuesday evening acknowledged there was a briefing but declined to address any specifics.”