Iran tried to hire assassins to kill politicians, including U.S. President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, according to FBI documents, which the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released on Thursday.
“Bad actors are determined to wreak havoc on our country, and American political leaders across both parties are sitting squarely in the crosshairs,” the senator stated. “In this extraordinarily heightened threat environment, federal agencies ought to be laser-focused on building up public trust and reassuring the American people of their efforts to carry out their protective missions.”
The PDF document of the report, which was reported widely and has circulated on social media, is no longer live on Grassley’s website.
The FBI marked the document in question unclassified and never labeled it as “for official use only” or “law enforcement sensitive,” according to Grassley’s office.
The senator’s office also told JNS that it redacted parts of the document and that disclosing the unclassified document is consistent with the independent congressional oversight authority. It added that the U.S. Department of Justice acknowledged the latter to Grassley’s office directly.
Grassley is waiting for the Justice Department and the FBI to provide a valid reason about why publishing the information impacts a federal investigation, and the Justice Department published a press release and 15-page indictment a month ago, per the senator’s office.
According to the widely reported document, an agent of Iran had “drawn a diagram on a whiteboard” to show a would-be assassin how to carry out the attack.
“The FBI does not comment specifically on documents allegedly disclosed without authorization,” a bureau spokesperson told JNS. “Public disclosure about sensitive, ongoing national security investigations and potential cooperation from subjects is irresponsible and undermines the FBI’s ability to conduct thorough investigations and enforcement actions that keep Americans safe.”
“It also puts lives at risk, especially when you are dealing with an adversary like Iran,” the spokesperson added.
