Trump Admin Rocked By Terror, Assassination Concerns

A bombshell new book has uncovered how close Iran came to assassinating Donald Trump’s former Secretary of State Mark Pompeo, Knewz.com can reveal. According to an excerpt from authors Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf’s forthcoming book, 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, Iran assembled hit teams that were active on U.S. soil – and discovered the Parisian hotel where Pompeo was staying in 2022 and almost succeeded in killing him.

The book also claimed intelligence officials informed then-candidate Trump and his team in September 2024 of the hit teams being active on U.S. soil. Iranian hit teams reportedly attempted to assassinate at least three U.S. officials over the course of three years leading up to the election. Trump’s team were said to alter their campaign tactics and visibility amid increased anxiety and fear, with most changes following two assassination attempts on the Republican candidate over the final months leading up to the election. Investigators reportedly investigated the two assassination suspects for possible ties to Iran but have yet to reveal a connection, if any.

Despite being informed of the hit teams locating Pompeo’s hotel and nearly succeeding in killing the former secretary of state, Trump revoked Pompeo’s security detail in January. Former national security advisor John Bolton’s security team was also revoked. Both Pompeo and Bolton continued to face death threats at the time protections were removed. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt recently announced at a press conference that security teams being instated for former government officials like Pompeo was “not under consideration right now.”

While the two previous assassination attempts were widely reported, details of the 2022 attempt on Pompeo’s life had not been previously disclosed, adding another layer of scrutiny toward Trump’s decision to revoke his security detail as well as his recent controversial decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear program sites. In Pompeo’s 2023 book, Never Give an Inch, he wrote about a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps being charged with the attempted assassination of Bolton. The member was also said to inquire about hiring a hitman to kill Pompeo for $1 million.

Pompeo said the member’s plan was not “hapless” and the “would-be attackers had cased homes and offices” as part of the murder plot. He further underscored the dangers against him and his family, writing, “This threat is but one of many that my family and I have experienced since leaving office. While details must be omitted here, other Americans — some former Trump administration officials, some senior American military leaders, and some ordinary Americans — remain on the Iranian kill list. Most disturbingly for us and our families, Iran’s assassination campaigns have no expiration date.”