Iran planned to assassinate President Donald Trump as he ran for re-election last year, striking fear in the heart of his campaign, according to a forthcoming book.
Axios senior political reporter Alex Isenstadt writes about the plot and the campaign’s reaction in Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power. The website published a preview of the book, detailing the threat to Trump.
Iran and the U.S. have had an extremely contentious relationship since the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1981. In 2020, the U.S. assassinated Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general, in an airstrike ordered by Trump; Iran is said to have hatched plans to assassinate Trump in retaliation.
During the 2024 campaign, Isenstadt writes, Trump and his campaign were warned that Iran had operatives in the U.S. who were planning to take down his airplane with missiles.
Shortly after authorities arrested a man in Florida in connection with an alleged assassination attempt, Trump’s campaign had him fly on a decoy plane to an event. Chris LaCivita, co-manager of the Trump campaign, told aides aboard his usual “Trump Force One” plane, “The boss ain’t riding with us today. We had to put him into another plane. This is nothing but a sort of test for how things may happen in the future.”
According to Isenstadt, Trump was worried about the possible threat to his life and concerned that Americans might develop “assassination fatigue,” affecting his support. He also stopped bragging as frequently at rallies about the Soleimani assassination.
Revenge is scheduled for publication by Grand Central on March 18.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
