An unprecedented request for a US presidential candidate, Donald Trump’s campaign has asked to utilize military planes to shield the outgoing president in the closing weeks of the election.
The extraordinary request, which also included increased flight restrictions over Trump’s homes and rallies and a fleet of military vehicles to transport him, was made on Friday, The New York Times and Washington Post reported. Many people in Trump’s inner circle have grown to believe—without proof—that Iran may have been responsible for two recent attempts on the former president’s life.
In the recent past, no presidential candidate has used military aircraft for campaigning before to an election. As the vice president in office, Kamala Harris is entitled to military protection and travels on Air Force Two, a military aircraft.
Iran’s danger
In a statement released earlier this month, Steven Cheung, the spokesperson for the Trump campaign, stated that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had alerted Trump “to real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States.”
Cheung stated at the time that “intelligence officials have identified that these continued and coordinated attacks have heightened in the past few months.”
Reiterating the assertion, Trump stated on his Truth Social platform that “Iran has already made moves that didn’t work out, but they will try again.”
The former president was the target of two recent assassination attempts; there is no evidence linking Iran to either attempt, but the FBI has apparently not ruled out a connection. The chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, General Qassem Soleimani, was killed in a US drone attack in Baghdad in 2020, during Trump’s presidency. US intelligence authorities suspect that Iran’s leaders may be seeking revenge. According to officials, Iran’s capacity to launch an attack inside the US is restricted.
The Washington Post, citing anonymous individuals and emails, reported that Trump’s campaign advisers were briefed by the government that Iran was still actively planning to murder him. This is when the calls for military protection started. According to the sources, the advisers’ concerns over drones and missiles have intensified.
