Secret Service officials have advised altering routines and rethinking rally locations, after threats from Iran and two assassination attempts.
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Former President Donald J. Trump has had additional protections in place after an assassination attempt this summer in Pennsylvania.
Donald Trump’s advisers are considering whether to modify his travel after threats to his life from Iran and two assassination attempts, according to several people briefed on the matter, a shift that could affect the way the Republican nominee campaigns in the race’s final stretch.
Among the discussions are what events can be secured, as well as the possibility that he might travel less on his own Trump-branded plane, according to two of the people briefed on the discussions.
Secret Service officials had previously suggested to Mr. Trump’s team that it consider additional changes to his travel plans and campaign routines, after two assassination attempts against him in roughly two months.
Mr. Trump and his team are also facing an assassination threat from Iran as revenge for ordering the killing of the Iranian general Qassim Suleimani in early 2020, while Iran also has led hacking attempts on campaign officials’ emails. Two federal intelligence officials briefed Mr. Trump on Tuesday about the threats from Iran, his campaign said. An official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, an umbrella entity that helps coordinate the work of the nation’s intelligence agencies, acknowledged the briefing but declined on Tuesday and Wednesday to comment on the substance.
As an example of what some travel could look like, the Trump team used multiple planes to get the candidate and his team to an event site in North Carolina on Wednesday, according to a person briefed on the matter.
A Secret Service spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Mr. Trump has always been a challenging figure for officials to protect compared with previous presidents, both when he was in office and since he left. He owns multiple properties, is set in his ways and doesn’t like to change his routine, and he is happiest when he’s greeting people on the patios of his clubs. Now, his aides have been forced to consider adjusting his travel schedule. They were advised that at least one event couldn’t be adequately secured in time for a planned visit. And he has told advisers he is not planning to play golf — his main source of relaxation — at his courses.
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Source: nytimes.com
