Trump Strips Mike Pompeo’s Secret Service Detail Amid Iran Threats

Mike Pompeo is the latest to have his Secret Service detail pulled by Donald Trump.

A reason for the abrupt change is unclear, but The New York Times reported Pompeo still faces ongoing assassination threats for his role in the U.S. killing of the Iranian general Qassim Suleimani in 2020.

“As recently as the end of last week, two separate government representatives, two separate government agencies called,” Pompeo told the Times. “They said our current assessment is that the threat level remains the same.”

Also losing protection—despite ongoing threats—this week was John Bolton, who was Trump’s third national security adviser who left the administration on bad terms. He has since penned a tell-all book of his White House experience that harshly criticized Trump and his leadership.

Pompeo has been publicly supportive of Trump since he bowed out of office, however, stumping for him on the campaign trail as late in the game as Nov. 4. That only adds to the mystery of why Trump would pull what appears to be a critical security measure even that the Biden administration deemed was necessary.

There does appear to be at least some friction between the men. The Times reported that Trump has said he “does not want anyone working for him who worked under” Pompeo during his first term, but the paper did not state why.

Trump also took a subtle dig at Pompeo in his Fox News interview with Sean Hannity that aired Wednesday night, blaming the ex-official as the reason he did not release the John F. Kennedy files during his first term.

Also reportedly losing Secret Service protection is Brian Hook, a former top aide to Pompeo who was Trump’s former Iran envoy. Like Pompeo, Hook was a part of an aggressive posture against Iran during Trump’s first term and appears to have fallen out of favor with the president. Just after midnight Tuesday, Trump gleefully removed him as a presidential appointee to the Wilson Center for Scholars.

“Let this serve as Official Notice of Dismissal for these 4 individuals, with many more, coming soon,” Trump wrote. “Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, Brian Hook from the Wilson Center for Scholars, and Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council—YOU’RE FIRED!”

Both Pompeo and Hook officially lost their security details on Tuesday. Bolton had his pulled on Monday in what appears to have been one of the president’s first executive actions in office.

Trump himself has been the subject of Iranian threats—something the Times reports he was reminded about often by his advisers as he navigated life out of office.