Trump used elusive tactic out of spy movie to throw off would-be assassins during presidential campaign

President Donald Trump was apparently more concerned about an Iranian plot to assassinate him on the campaign trail than he let on in public – even using an elusive tactic out of a spy movie to throw them off his trail.

Federal law enforcement officers had warned the then Republican nominee last year that Iran had snuck operatives into the United States who had access to surface-to-air missiles, Axios reporter Alex Isenstadt writes in his new book – details of which he shared online.

Their aim was to try and silence dissidents critical of the regime, and back at Trump for Qasem Soleimani’s death. 

After learning about the threat, which Iranian officials later denied, some on Trump’s campaign worried that having the candidate take his Trump Force One plane would make him an easy target.

Their concerns only grew after a would-be assassin opened fire at his Florida golf course on September 15 – just two months after he was shot in the ear at a rally in Pennsylvania.

At that point, Trump’s security detail had the candidate fly to an event on a decoy plane owned by his friend, real estate executive Steve Witkoff.

Co-campaign manager Susie Wiles joined Trump on Witkoff’s plane, but the rest of the staff – including co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita traveled in Trump Force One.

‘The boss ain’t riding with us today,’ LaCivita was forced to tell the staffers, according to Isenstadt. ‘We had to put him into another plane.’

President Donald Trump was apparently more concerned about an Iranian plot to assassinate him on the campaign trail than he let on in public

His campaign staff grew concerned that he would be too easy of a target if he used his Trump Force One airplane to arrive and leave from rallies

‘This is nothing but a sort of test for how things may happen in the future,’ he said.

The news upset some aides, who worried they might become ‘collateral damage’ if Trump Force One were targeted.

They described how the flight became a surreal experience for them as they shared ‘gallows humor galore.’

‘This was some s***,’ one former staffer told Isenstadt.

Within the campaign, the ride would later become known as the Ghost Flight, he reports.

Meanwhile, the Secret Service also arranged for a decoy motorcade the same day, with Trump in one and his staffers in another.

But the concerns about Trump’s safety only mounted, with the Secret Service reportedly warning campaign leaders after a September 18 rally on Long Island, New York that someone might be looking to shoot up his motorcade.

During a trip to Pennsylvania the following week, Secret Service agents also noticed a drone following Trump’s motorcade, lading one officer to open the moonroof of the vehicle and shoot the drone with an electromagnetic gun – disabling it.

Concerns grew after Trump was the victim of two assassination attempts – including one that left him wounded

As the safety concerns mounted, campaign insiders said Trump was becoming more worried about the threat from Iran than he publicly let on.

He brought up the January 2020 assassination of Soleimani less at his campaign rallies, and reportedly began expressing more concern about the staging of his campaign events.

Trump was also said to be worried voters would get ‘assassination fatigue,’ and would not want to elect a president who was constantly under threat.

He eventually revealed that he was facing assassination attempts from Iranian officials on his Truth Social platform.

‘Big threats on my life by Iran,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform in September. ‘The entire US military is watching and waiting.

‘Moves were already made by Iran that didn’t work out, but they will try again.’

Trump eventually became concerned about the staging at events 

A Pakistani national was later charged in connection with a ‘murder-for-hire’ plot to assassinate a politician or government official, which FBI Director Chris Wray said was ‘straight out of the Iranian regime’s playbook.’

Axios reporter Alex Isenstadt detailed the efforts to keep Trump safe in his new book

By November, Farhad Shakeri, 51, was also described by the FBI as an ‘asset of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Shakeri – along with New Yorkers Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathan Loadholt, 36, – are also accused of targeting an Iranian-American activist and were offered $500,000 to kill two Jewish businessmen living in the U.S. 

The IRGC were in constant contact with the suspects, and said that ‘money was not an object’ when it came to pursuing their targets. 

It allegedly tasked Shakeri with surveilling and killing Trump to avenge the devastating drone strike that killed Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force.

Shakeri was ordered to assassinate Trump with just a month until millions of Americans went to the polls on November 5.

However, he told the FBI in recorded phone calls he didn’t plan to carry out the operation in the timeframe he was given.

Asif Merchant, 46, was accused of working with a hitman to carry out assassinations after travelling to New York

Trump has been a target of Iran assassination threats since he ordered the strike that killed Soleimani, the leader of the brutal Iranian Quds Forces 

Shakeri was then told to delay the plot, because Iran thought Trump would lose the election and it would then be easier to get to him without his full presidential-level Secret Service detail.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the aftermath that there are ‘few actors’ in the world that ‘pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran.’

‘The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a designated foreign terrorist organization — has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down Americans on U.S. soil and that simply won’t be tolerated,’ he said.

‘Actors directed by the Government of Iran continue to target our citizens, including President-elect Trump, on U.S. soil and abroad. This has to stop,’ U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York added. 

‘Today’s charges are another message to those who continue in their efforts – we will remain unrelenting in our pursuit of bad actors, no matter where they reside, and will stop at nothing to bring to justice those who harm our safety and security.’ 

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later denied the IRGC hired an assassin, writing on X that because ‘a killer does not exist in reality, scriptwriters are brought in to manufacture a third-rate comedy.’

‘Who can in their right mind believe that a supposed assassin SITS IN IRAN and talks online to the FBI?!’

Pictures released by the Justice Department after an Iranian man allegedly plotted to kill Trump

Still, Trump has issued a chilling warning to Iran if the Middle Eastern nation tried to assassinate him. 

He signed an executive order in the Oval Office last week that detailed a ‘maximum pressure’ campaign on the nation, as he worked to prevent it from getting a nuclear weapon.

The president said he was ‘torn’ when signing the order – which prompted a reporter to ask why he was hesitant when Iranian leaders have threatened to assassinate him.

‘If they did that, they would be obliterated,’ Trump responded. ‘I have left instructions. If they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left.’ 

When asked to clarify his comments, the president made the same threat. 

‘That would be called total obliteration,’ Trump said. ‘I can’t imagine they would do that,’ he added.

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk