Trump ends his former national security advisor's Secret Service protection

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday that US President Donald Trump abruptly ended a Secret Service security detail that was granted to him in the wake of alleged Iranian threats on his life.

Bolton served as Trump's national security advisor from 2018 - 2019 and was one of the chief architects of the first Trump administration's "maximum pressure campaign" against Iran, which included a futile effort to ratchet up sanctions on Tehran to force the Islamic Republic into re-entering negotiations on its nuclear program. Bolton ultimately fell out with Trump and was replaced by Robert O'Brien.

"I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection previously provided by the United States Secret Service. Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden's national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to extend that protection to me in 2021," Bolton wrote on X.

"The Justice Department filed criminal charges against an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official in 2022 for attempting to hire a hit man to target me. That threat remains today, as also demonstrated by the recent arrest of someone trying to arrange for President Trump's own assassination. The American people can judge for themselves which President made the right call," he added.

The Justice Department in August 2022 filed charges against an Iranian national who it said worked on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to hire a hitman to kill Bolton. Prosecutors said the move was likely taken as retaliation for the January 2020 assassination of former IRGC head Qasem Soleimani.