Iran denies assassination plot against Trump

The Secret Service had casually informed the Trump campaign team about a general increase in threats against Trump, but the campaign team had not been informed about any specific threats from any individual or group from Iran, a source familiar with the exchange told NBC News.

In recent weeks, the United States received intelligence information about an Iranian assassination attempt on Trump, prompting the Secret Service to increase its security measures.

However, there was no indication that the plot was connected to Saturday’s attack. US investigators say the evidence so far suggests that the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, acted alone.

Three days after a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and injured Trump’s ear, the former president and his campaign team have released virtually nothing about his condition.

Trump made his first public appearance last night at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, wearing an opaque bandage that covered most of his right ear.

A Trump adviser declined to answer specific questions about his injury today, telling NBC News that any statements regarding Trump’s health, condition and medical care for his ear would come directly from him.

But Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas, who was the White House chief medical officer during the Trump administration, told NBC News today that he had personally examined Trump and that he was doing “great.”

Jackson also said in a podcast today that Trump is missing the top part of his ear and will be wearing a bandage on it for the foreseeable future.

Although Trump made a public appearance yesterday to officially announce his nomination as the Republican presidential candidate, just hours after officially naming Republican Senator JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate, he has not spoken on camera or given interviews since the shooting.

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The office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said a conference call with senators will take place tomorrow regarding the Butler shooting.

The call will include briefings from the Justice Department, the Secret Service and the FBI, his office said.

Officials in Butler County said they are currently focused on supporting the families of the victims of Saturday’s shooting that left one man dead and two others injured.

Leslie Osche, chair of the Butler County Board of Commissioners, said in a statement that she wants answers, but “we are waiting for the AUTHORIZED investigative agencies to complete their investigation. We will follow this and if time requires us to take action or respond in any way, we will do so.”

In the meantime, Osche said the board is focused on making mental health resources available to those who need them and supporting affected families, especially the family of slain Corey Comperatore.

“The Comperatore family is a shining example of families in Butler County who serve their community, care for one another and are active in their church,” Osche said.

Osche said the attack underscored the importance of “investing in our young people, especially young men.”

“We cannot afford for them to lose touch or use their intelligence for evil instead of good,” Osche said. “We cannot allow this to tear us apart now.”

The Iranian mission to the United Nations today rejected allegations that this was an Iranian assassination attempt on Trump.

“These allegations are baseless and malicious,” said a report by the state news agency IRNA from the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations.

The Biden administration has received intelligence about the plot in recent weeks, and that information has prompted the Secret Service to tighten security measures around Trump, three U.S. officials familiar with the matter said.

Iran views Trump as a criminal, the IRNA report says.

“Trump is a criminal who must be tried and punished for ordering the assassination of General Soleimani,” the mission’s IRNA report said. “Iran has chosen the legal route to bring him to justice.”

The family of James Copenhaver, one of the two victims injured in the shooting at the rally, said in a statement that the 74-year-old is recovering from “life-changing” injuries and asked for privacy.

In the statement, Copenhaver thanked first responders, doctors and hospital staff for their help and expressed his “thoughts and prayers” for the other victims of the attack, including Trump.

For further questions, Copenhaver referred to his lawyer.

“The Copenhaver family would like to thank you for your continued thoughts, prayers and support as Jim and his family recover from this horrific, senseless and unnecessary act of violence,” the statement concluded.

In an interview with NBC News’ Katy Tur, Eric Trump called on the Secret Service to “get to the bottom” of the security breach that allowed the shooter to climb onto an unsecured roof.

“These are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and they would have taken a bullet for him, and they almost did that day – but there was a breakdown outside of his ecosystem,” Eric Trump said. “There was a breakdown, and they better get to the bottom of it.”

Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump from the roof of a building about 450 feet from the stage where the former president was leading a rally. Crooks was outside Secret Service security, so the building’s security was primarily the responsibility of local police.

A U.S. official said local law enforcement officials notified the former president’s Secret Service that they were searching the area for a suspicious person before the crooks targeted Trump.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said in an interview with ABC News that only a “short period of time” had passed between such a warning and the shooting.

The Beaver County District Attorney’s Office confirmed that the county’s emergency response unit and SWAT team assisted local law enforcement during Saturday’s rally.

The prosecutor’s office wrote in a statement that it was “proud of the heroic actions of our officers.”

Local law enforcement has come under fire for their role in providing security outside the Secret Service compound, but the federal agency’s director has said they take full responsibility for the security breach that allowed the gunman to climb onto a nearby roof and set fire.

As various congressional committees step up their efforts to investigate the attempted assassination of Trump, a Republican in the House of Representatives is pushing for the creation of an independent commission modeled on the one that investigated the September 11 attacks.

“I think we just need an independent, bipartisan group to look at this, like we did after 9/11, to make sure this never happens again,” South Carolina Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan told NBC News. “It was an abject failure of security that day to leave a roof uncovered and unguarded in a building with a line of sight to the stage and podium.”

Duncan acknowledged the investigative efforts that the House Oversight, Homeland Security and Judiciary committees have already launched, but he said Congress’s ability to get answers through a typical committee hearing process, in which each lawmaker has just five minutes to ask questions, is limited.

This would be particularly arduous given the number of potential witnesses Duncan has in mind: the director of the Secret Service, the head of Trump’s task force, the advance team that prepared the crime scene, the Pennsylvania State Police, local law enforcement, Department of Homeland Security officials and other witnesses.

Duncan argued that an independent commission with subpoena power would be better able to gather all of this information. “I think this is a way to get the answers that the American people deserve and that we deserve as elected officials,” he said.

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The former president has contacted and spoken with a member of Corey Comperatore’s family, according to his sister Dawn Comperatore Schafer.

Comperatore, 50, a former fire chief, was attending the rally as a spectator when he was killed in the shooting.