Trump security boosted weeks ago over Iran plot to kill him

Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the US Secret Service, said it and other agencies were “constantly receiving new potential threat information and taking action to adjust resources, as needed”.

“We cannot comment on any specific threat stream, other than to say that the Secret Service takes threats seriously and responds accordingly.”

The Trump campaign said it did not comment on security matters and referred BBC questions to the Secret Service.

Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said that US security officials had been “tracking Iranian threats against former Trump administration officials for years”.

“These threats arise from Iran’s desire to seek revenge for the killing of Soleimani,” she said. “We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority.”

She however reiterated that the investigation “has not identified ties” between Crooks and “any accomplice or co-conspirator, foreign or domestic.”

In 2022, the Department of Justice announced criminal charges against a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, alleging that he was orchestrating a plot to kill Mr Bolton.

Prosecutors said the plot was “likely in retaliation” for the killing of Soleimani.

Questions have swirled about how police officers and agents responsible for the rally at Butler County fairgrounds, Pennsylvania, allowed Crooks to get so close.

The director of the Secret Service admitted that local police were inside the building while Crooks was on its roof aiming at Trump 130m (430ft) away.

CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, reported three local police snipers were inside the building and had seen Crooks getting on the roof.

The local sheriff’s department referred BBC questions to the state police, which said it was not responsible for the area containing the building.

A state police spokesman told the BBC that it provided “all resources” requested by the Secret Service, including between 30 to 40 troopers inside the perimeter.

President Joe Biden has ordered an independent review of how the gunman could have come so close to killing Trump, and the Secret Service also faces probes from Congress.