Donald Trump’s campaign is asking the government to provide greater security for the candidate, who faces unprecedented threats as a former president seeking to once again lead a bitterly divided nation.
The campaign is calling for the use of military aircraft for the candidate, as well as additional Secret Service protection for Trump following two apparent assassination attempts and the revelation that Iran attacked him in retaliation for the US killing of Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.
In a sign of the severity of the threat, the White House quickly agreed, with President Joe Biden saying Friday that he had authorized the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, to grant their requests.
“I told the department to give him everything he needs,” Biden said.
Trump poses a unique security risk as a former president, and his campaign has already had to make adjustments to address the threats he faces along the way.
Last week, Trump’s campaign was forced to move an event to a smaller location in Milwaukee because the original location could not be adequately secured. In response to the threats, his campaign had to reroute its motorcade and Trump has not always traveled in his personal plane, according to a person briefed on the intelligence community.
Now the former president is asking for military resources to protect him. Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fl.), made the request in a letter to the Secret Service, the White House and the Defense Department, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter who was granted anonymity.
In addition, Susie Wiles, Trump’s co-campaign manager, has been in contact with White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. about beefing up security for Trump and his campaign.
Wiles recently spoke with Zients by phone to request military resources because she believed the Secret Service needed additional help, according to two people familiar with the conversation. Zients responded by saying Trump would get everything he needed, the people said.
Zients immediately connected Wiles to Department of Homeland Security leadership and the Secret Service so she had a direct line of communication, and the chief of staff made it clear that Biden was directing the Secret Service to provide Trump with the highest level of protection, the officials said.
The requests follow intelligence briefings given to the campaign on Iran’s threats.
Security measures called for by the campaign include increased funding for local law enforcement, access to federal manpower, sufficient funding for the Secret Service to reimburse local law enforcement, temporary airspace restrictions and access to the kind of high-security limousines used by the president. .
Trump’s request for additional protection also reflects the increasing pressure that security concerns surrounding the former president are putting on his campaign.
The campaign did not respond to a request for on-the-record comment.
Trump now needs bulletproof glass to contain him as he speaks at rallies, and the heavy, expensive structures built to withstand the force of high-speed ballistics have not always been readily available to him, according to people familiar with the matter and conceded. anonymity to discuss safety.
The last-minute location changes were also detrimental to the campaign. When the campaign plane is diverted, a new convoy must be organized and security plans rearranged. And the advance planning required to keep Trump and his team safe has meant the campaign isn’t as nimble as they would like at this stage of the race, when campaigns often make schedule changes based on real-time data and opinion polls. Outside the campaign, security concerns have prompted Trump to cut back on golf, his favorite weekend activity.
“President Biden has directed the Secret Service to provide the highest level of protection to former President Trump,” White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt said.
The Secret Service increased security for Trump after the attempt on his life at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July by a young gunman whose motives are not publicly known, as well as threats from Iran. But while Trump has a high level of security, he does not have a military aircraft or the same level of protection as a sitting president or the vice president.
National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement that the US has been monitoring Iranian threats against Trump for years, dating back to his presidency after the killing of Solemaini, a general who led the regional military activities of the country.
“These threats stem from Iran’s desire to take revenge for the assassination of Qassem Solemaini. We consider this a national and homeland security issue of the highest priority, and we strongly condemn Iran for these blatant threats,” Savett said. “Should Iran attack any of our citizens, including those who continue to serve the United States or those who previously served, Iran will face serious consequences.”
Biden has sent messages “to the highest levels” of the Iranian government warning them to abandon plots against Trump and former US officials, according to a senior administration official. Former officials targeted by Iran include former National Security Advisor John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Trump administration’s Iranian envoy Brian Hook. Pompeo and Hook are currently under government protection due to the threats. Iran has been told that any attempt on Trump’s life would be considered an act of war.
Waltz’s letter and Wiles’ contact with Rowe and Zients were first reported by The New York Times.
In addition to the Secret Service, the campaign has also used the Colorado Security Agency in the past to help with security at events, although the campaign has not made a payment to that organization since January, campaign financial records show. However, the campaign has paid more than $591,000 to the firm Event Strategies Inc., whose description includes “security.”
Security was significantly beefed up due to Trump’s recent return to the farm show grounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was shot in July. Roads were closed in advance. Bomb-sniffing dogs ran through the rows of cars parked in the lot. Additional snipers were stationed on the roofs surrounding the fairgrounds. And the now infamous building that the gunman climbed atop to fire bullets at the former president was obscured by tall, white box trucks.
“If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country – in this case Iran – that if you do anything to harm this person, we will blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens. We’re going to blow it to smithereens. You can’t do that. And there would be no more threats,” Trump said at a campaign event in North Carolina. “But right now we don’t have that leadership or the necessary people, the necessary leaders.”
John Sakellaridis, Jessica Piper and Lisa Kashinsky contributed to this report.
