President Donald Trump revoked the security clearance and Secret Service protection detail afforded to his former national security adviser, John Bolton, during the beginning hours of his second term.
Bolton, who left the Trump White House in November 2019, has had Secret Service protection during the Biden administration due to concerns that Iran could target him or other members of the first Trump administration who were involved in the assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
"I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection previously provided by the United States Secret Service," Bolton said. "Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden's national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to extend that protection to me in 2021."
Bolton was already out of the Trump administration when the strike occurred in January 2020.
The Justice Department unsealed charges in August 2022 that accused Shahram Poursafi, an Iranian national and IRGC member, of attempting to arrange Bolton's murder. Poursafi was accused of agreeing to pay an informant $300,000 to kill him, and the Iranian noted he had an additional "job" for the individual, which he'd pay a million dollars for the source to accomplish.
"That threat remains today, as also demonstrated by the recent arrest of someone trying to arrange for President Trump's own assassination," Bolton added. "The American people can judge for themselves which President made the right call."
Several other first-administration Trump officials, including former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former national security adviser Robert O'Brien, former Iran envoy Brian Hook, retired Gen. Mark Milley, former deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger, and two former National Security Council officials, Victoria Coates and Robert Greenway, are among those believed to be possible targets.
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Iran has also plotted to assassinate Trump himself, though Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian denied the claim. The DOJ arrested Asif Raza Merchant, a Pakistani man with ties to Iran, on July 12, 2024. He was accused of trying to arrange a murder-for-hire scheme targeting the president.
During the first day of Trump's second term, he revoked the security clearances of Bolton and the 51 national security officials who said Hunter Biden’s laptop had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation" back in 2020.