FBI 'not ruling anything out' regarding potential ties between Iran, Trump assassination attempt
A top FBI official revealed Tuesday that the agency is "not ruling anything out" when it comes to any potential connection between Iran and the former President Trump assassination attempt earlier this month during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Deputy Director Paul Abbate told a joint hearing of Senate committees on Capitol Hill that "we have no information that there are any coconspirators, foreign or domestic, including Iran, related to this, but we're not – I want to be clear – we have no evidence of that.
"We're not ruling anything out. We're looking into all possibilities and leaving our minds open to that," he said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked Abbate if there was any "specific or imminent threat" against former President Trump on the day of the shooting.
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"The terrorist regime of Iran have been targeting people, our country, for many, many years now. We've talked about that here before, I want to be clear about that. From the FBI standpoint... we know publicly they've targeted former President Trump. They've called for his assassination," Abbate also said.
When Blumenthal asked if Iran was on the minds of the Secret Service on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe responded, "as Deputy Director Abbate just said, we are aware of the public sentiment and statements of the government of Iran to do harm to Donald J. Trump, and we use a threat-based model."
The FBI is leading the investigation into the Trump rally shooting carried out by gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks.
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The motive for the attack remains unclear.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has effectively put bounties on the heads of Trump, his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and ex-National Security Advisor John Bolton for their roles in the U.S. drone strike that eliminated the global Iranian terrorist Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
According to the U.S. government, Soleimani was responsible for the murders of over 600 American military personnel in the Middle East.
Fox News’ Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.