President Trump’s Secret Service detail were forced to shoot down a drone during the election campaign, according to a new book.
Reporter Alex Isenstadt says that while on campaign in Pennsylvania—where Trump was almost assassinated by a gunman—a drone began following the Trump motorcade, prompting a Secret Service agent to shoot it down with an electromagnetic weapon.
The Trump campaign was particularly concerned by threats to his life from the Iranian regime, which has vowed revenge against the President since the killing of General Qassem Soleimani, during Trump’s first term in office.
Isenstadt says that Trump was warned of threats to his private jet “Trump Force One” from Iranian operatives armed with surface-to-air missiles. It was worried the plane would be particularly vulnerable during takeoff and landing.
The book claims that Trump travelled on a decoy plane provided by businessman Steve Witkoff, who has since been named Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. Trump was playing golf with Steve Witkoff in West Palm Beach when a second attempt was made on his life by Ryan Routh, who is due to face trial for the attempt, in September.
Trump recently remarked that the US would “obliterate” Iran if he were assassinated.
Other threats to Trump’s life during the election campaign included an apparently credible report that someone was intending to shoot at his motorcade on his way to a rally in New York, last September.