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(CNN) — President Donald Trump has revoked the security detail for his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who had received ongoing protection due to threats from Iran after taking a hardline policy toward the country during Trump’s first administration, three sources familiar with the move told CNN.
The decision to strip Pompeo of his State Department security detail, first reported by The New York Times, comes shortly after Trump terminated the Secret Service detail that was assigned to his former national security adviser John Bolton.
CNN has reached out to Pompeo. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When Trump was asked by reporters on Thursday about the stripping of security from former officials, he said, “When you have protection, you can’t have it for the rest of your life.” He added, “You don’t want a large detail of people guarding people the rest of their lives. I mean there are risks to everything.”
Pompeo was deeply involved in shaping the first Trump administration’s policy toward Iran and played in a role in Trump’s order to assassinate top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani in early 2020.
The Justice Department said the Iranian government sought revenge against senior Trump officials who were involved in the killing, including Pompeo and Bolton, who are both Iran hawks. Bolton and Pompeo were targets of a foiled Iranian assassination plot, according to the Department of Justice.
A former intelligence official told CNN they were alarmed by the moves.
“Somebody is going to get killed, there is a credible and serious Iranian threat against Pompeo and Bolton,” they said.
Another former national security official said Trump’s decision seemed to be motivated by “pure spite and pettiness and Trump better hope the Iranians don’t hurt one of these people.”
Trump himself has remained a target of Iran due to the plot to kill Soleimani. His team requested increased security last summer after getting briefings from the Biden administration that Iran was still actively plotting to kill him.
The-CNN-Wire
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