U.S. intelligence agencies were tracking a potential Iranian assassination plot against former President Donald J. Trump in the weeks before a gunman opened fire last weekend, several officials said on Tuesday, but they added that they did not consider the threat related to the shooting that wounded Mr. Trump.
The intelligence prompted the Secret Service to enhance security for the former president before his outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, officials said. Yet whatever additional measures were taken did not stop a 20-year-old local man from clambering on top of a nearby warehouse roof to shoot at Mr. Trump, grazing his right ear and coming close to killing him.
The National Security Council contacted the Secret Service to be sure it was tracking the latest reporting and the agency shared the information with the head of Mr. Trump’s detail, according to a national security official, who, like others, shared sensitive information on condition of anonymity.
The Trump campaign was informed “in passing” by the Secret Service of a general uptick in threats against Mr. Trump but was not made aware of any specific dangers related to Iranian individuals or groups, according to a person briefed on the interactions between the campaign and the Secret Service. It was not clear what, if anything, Mr. Trump himself was told.
The intelligence that prompted the warning was new but consistent with previous threat information against lower-level current and former U.S. officials, according to officials informed about the matter. The intensifying campaign season, with increasingly frequent public rallies, offered more opportunities for an attack. Several national security officials said that although the threat was taken seriously, it did not appear that the intelligence was fully developed.
