OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump dropped new information during a top-rated podcast earlier this week about who he believes may have been involved in the assassination attempts against him.
During an interview with comedian Andrew Schulz and co-hosts of the “Flagrant” podcast, Trump hinted that he believes Iran could be behind the attempts as payback for when he ordered the assassination of a top Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander during his administration.
Trump narrowly survived a July 13 assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pa., when a bullet fired by Thomas Crooks, 20, grazed his right ear. One rallygoer sitting behind Trump was killed while two others were seriously wounded.
The Secret Service managed to thwart a second attempt the following month while he played a round of golf at his country club in West Palm Beach. That alleged would-be shooter, Ryan Wesley Routh, was posted up behind a hedgerow near one of the greens as Trump was approaching.
During the interview, Schulz asked Trump who he thought was behind the plots:
ANDREW SCHULZ: Who do you think tried to take you out?
DONALD TRUMP: So? So I’m going to give you some big breaking news. Because you’re I know the kind of show and it’s entertainment, but it’s also very serious…
Let’s weave back to his question. This is where this is where it started. So weave back to it.
So yeah, I sort of hate answering it because I don’t want to give any false identities. I don’t want to do anything having to do with creating something that isn’t there.
You would look at Iran. Iran has an open threat out for me and that’s bad.
And Biden, if he were a real president, if he were the kind of guy he should be, should say, if anybody shoots a former president who’s now the leading candidate, even though he’s leading against Democrats, we will bomb that country into oblivion and it would stop.
And and that’s been said before with some people. You know, there have been people I won’t go into it, but there have been people that have been threatened in another party, even in the same party. It makes sense and probably happens pretty quickly.
But in another party, you know, it’s hard for them to.
ANDREW SCHULZ: To cross the line.
DONALD TRUMP: To want to protect me. But it shouldn’t be hard. Other people have protected other people. And what you have to inform those people is if they do it, the country will be blown to smithereens. The entire country will be blown to smithereens.
And those threats go away because that’s a really bad threat for a country. Forget about me. I’m an individual, but I represent something very important.
It’s a really terrible threat. Yeah. So, I mean, there are others that could be in that category. Look, I took in hundreds of billions of dollars from China at a level that no president no president took in anything. I had tariffs on China, took in hundreds of billions of dollars, is still there. That without me, they wouldn’t have those tariffs. So you could say–. But no, I think Iran would be the one.
WATCH:
Andrew Shultz; who do you think tried to assassinate you?
Trump; Iran, Biden should bomb them for shooting me
No proof Iran shot Trump, according to Trump, and yet he wants Biden to bomb them into oblivion. pic.twitter.com/PVlaEDYXKy
— Ryan ✝️ (@AmericaFirstRy) October 10, 2024
Last month, following the attempts on Trump’s life, former Secret Service agent-turned-conservative broadcaster speculated that there could be a “mole” within the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the protective agency.
He also suggested that a foreign entity or government could have compromised the mole.
