Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, urged President Donald Trump over the weekend to reconsider pulling the protective security detail off of several administration officials who served during his first term in office.
Cotton made the remarks during a Sunday interview on “Fox News Sunday” when asked about Trump’s decision to pull the details off of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former national security adviser John Bolton, and former Iran envoy Brian Hook.
“I would encourage the president to revisit the decision for those people who are being targeted by Iran,” Cotton said, noting that even Trump has been a target for Iranian assassination over the last few years in retaliation for the killing of Iranian terrorist commander Qasem Soleimani.
“As the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, I’ve reviewed the intelligence in the last few days, the threat to anyone involved in President Trump’s strike on Qasem Soleimani is persistent,” he said. “It’s real. Iran is committed to vengeance against all of these people.”
“In fact, the chief of staff of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence agreed with me that if these threats were against him or his family that he would want security because the threats are real,” he continued. “There are gaps in our coverage. We don’t know what we don’t know, and it’s better to be safe than sorry, because it’s not just about these men who helped President Trump carry on his policy in his first term.”
Cotton said that the protective details also protect other innocent people who could get caught up in any kind of assassination attempts, including random bystanders in public spaces.
“It’s also about the President being able to get good people and get good advice,” Cotton said. “If people are saying going to work for the president now on Iran or China or North Korea or the Mexican drug cartels, they might hesitate to do so, or they might hesitate if they’re in office, to give him the advice he needs or carry out the policies that he decides upon.”
WATCH:
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) urges Trump to reconsider pulling the security details of former officials who have been threatened by Iran:
“I would encourage the president to revisit the decision for those people who are being targeted by Iran as the president was targeted for… pic.twitter.com/uquQyjNoeN
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 26, 2025
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[[{“value”:”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, urged President Donald Trump over the weekend to reconsider pulling the protective security detail off of several administration officials who served during his first term in office.
Cotton made the remarks during a Sunday interview on “Fox News Sunday” when asked about Trump’s decision to pull the details off of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former national security adviser John Bolton, and former Iran envoy Brian Hook.
“I would encourage the president to revisit the decision for those people who are being targeted by Iran,” Cotton said, noting that even Trump has been a target for Iranian assassination over the last few years in retaliation for the killing of Iranian terrorist commander Qasem Soleimani.
“As the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, I’ve reviewed the intelligence in the last few days, the threat to anyone involved in President Trump’s strike on Qasem Soleimani is persistent,” he said. “It’s real. Iran is committed to vengeance against all of these people.”
“In fact, the chief of staff of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence agreed with me that if these threats were against him or his family that he would want security because the threats are real,” he continued. “There are gaps in our coverage. We don’t know what we don’t know, and it’s better to be safe than sorry, because it’s not just about these men who helped President Trump carry on his policy in his first term.”
Cotton said that the protective details also protect other innocent people who could get caught up in any kind of assassination attempts, including random bystanders in public spaces.
“It’s also about the President being able to get good people and get good advice,” Cotton said. “If people are saying going to work for the president now on Iran or China or North Korea or the Mexican drug cartels, they might hesitate to do so, or they might hesitate if they’re in office, to give him the advice he needs or carry out the policies that he decides upon.”
WATCH:
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) urges Trump to reconsider pulling the security details of former officials who have been threatened by Iran:
“I would encourage the president to revisit the decision for those people who are being targeted by Iran as the president was targeted for… pic.twitter.com/uquQyjNoeN
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 26, 2025
“}]]
