WASHINGTON — President Trump revoked former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Secret Service protection this week — brushing off Iranian threats to assassinate the former top diplomat.
“When you have protection, you can’t have it for the rest of your life,” Trump, 78, told reporters in the Oval Office Thursday.
“Do you want to have a large detail of people guarding people for the rest of their lives? I mean, there’s risks to everything.”
Pompeo — who also served as CIA director during Trump’s first term — had his security detail pulled on Tuesday, the New York Times first reported. A former top aide, Brian Hook, also had his security detail revoked.
Trump’s relationship with Pompeo soured following the 45th president’s term — with Pompeo blasting his former boss for allegedly mishandling classified documents and “staring in the rearview mirror claiming victimhood.”
Pompeo sought to mend fences with Trump following the Nov. 5 election, but failed to secure a new position.
Former administration members usually are not granted Secret Service details after they leave office. But former President Joe Biden granted Pompeo, Hook and former national security adviser John Bolton security details amid threats from Iran.
“I think there was enough time. We take a job, you take a job, you want to do a job, we’re not going to have security on people for the rest of their lives. Why should we?” Trump said of removing Bolton’s protection Tuesday.
Pompeo has yet to make a public statement on his detail being revoked, but Bolton said that the “threat” from Iran remains and “the American people can judge for themselves which president made the right call.”
The State Department revealed in a 2022 document obtained by the Associated Press that it was paying over $2 million per month to protect Pompeo and Hook.
Pompeo was one of the key figures that Iran wanted to retaliate against for the US killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Suleimani in January 2020.
In 2022, the Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei’s website published a video depicting an animated Pompeo and Trump being targeted by a remote-controlled robotic weapon at one of the president’s golf courses.
A text message in the video then reads, “Soleimani’s murderer and the one who gave the order will pay the price” with the screen cutting to black before the animated Trump and Pompeo were apparently taken out by the weapon.
Trump was briefed in recent months that Iran had plotted to assassinate him as well — and that the threat dates back to his first administration.
“Big threats on my life by Iran. The entire U.S. [sic] Military is watching and waiting,” Trump wrote after the second assassination attempt on his life last summer while the then-presidential candidate was golfing on his Florida course.
“Moves were already made by Iran that didn’t work out, but they will try again. Not a good situation for anyone.”
