DON TARGET
Inside ‘Operation Ghost Flight’ to save Don’s life after US rumble Iran plot to shoot down Trump Force One with missiles
They even used a fake motorcade to protect Trump from assassins
DONALD Trump's team feared for his safety so much during the campaign they launched a decoy plane to rumble Trump Force One being shot down with missiles.
The nominee's life was in danger after Iran launched a plot to kill him in revenge for his slaying of senior general Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
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It was revealed in November, that an Iranian agent had been charged with plotting to kill Trump in an assassination that would have shaken the world.
A new book - Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power by Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt - has revealed the extraordinary new details the Republican's team went to to protect him from the Ayatollah's other plots.
Fears were magnified after the assassination attempts against Trump in Pennsylvania and at his Mar-a-Lago compound in Florida during the campaign.
Trump's security team became worried the President's famous dark blue and red Trump Force One jet would be an easily recognizable target, according to Isenstadt.
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And they were even warned that Iranian operatives inside the US had access to surface-to-air missiles.
His team became so worried about Trump being shot out of the sky as the plane took off or came into land, that on one occasion they had him travel on a decoy plane supplied by a billionaire pal while the rest of his team travelled on Trump Force One.
That day, soon after the September 15 attempt on his life, aides were left fuming after they feared they would be "collateral damage".
Chris LaCivita, a senior advisor to Trump's campaign, told staffers on the plane "the boss" was not riding with them that day.
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He said: "We had to put him into another plane. This is nothing but a sort of test for how things may happen in the future."
But campaign leaders had to assure the staffers that they weren't being used as bait.
Trump threatens to ‘blow Iran to smithereens’ after assassination threat, Twitter
Once on the ground, Trump was driven around in a decoy motorcade with Trump in one and staffers in another.
At a September 18 rally on Long Island, NY, the Secret Service warned campaign leaders they had intelligence someone might be looking to shoot up the motorcade.
LaCivita told one staffer: "Don't f****** hang out the window and take photos, because you're a f****** target."
During a trip to Pennsylvania the next week, the motorcade was followed by a drone prompting officers to shoot it with an electromagnetic gun.
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Trump often boasted about killing Soleimani at rallies - but Isenstadt reports Trump became privately worried about the possibility of the threat to his life .
Days after taking office for a second time, Trump revealed he had given his team strict instructions to completely obliterate Iran if they ever assassinated him.
He said: "I've left instructions if they do it, they get obliterated, there won't be anything left."
The US President also signed an executive order calling for his government to impose serious pressure on Tehran.
He later moderated by saying he wanted a "verified nuclear peace agreement" with the country.
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Trump posted on social media in September saying there were "big threats" on his life by Iran.
He said that US military was watching and waiting and Iran had already "made moves" which had failed.
Trump said: "I am surrounded by more men, guns, and weapons than I have ever seen before.
"An attack on a former President is a Death Wish for the attacker!"
Iranian plot to kill Trump
IN NOVEMBER, an Iranian agent was charged with plotting to kill Donald Trump in an assassination that would have shaken the world.
US prosecutors say the rogue state told ex-con Farhad Shakeri — said to be hiding in Tehran — to devise a seven-day plan to spy on and murder him.
Afghan national Shakeri came to the US as a child and served 14 years for a robbery before he was deported in 2008.
The US government said Shakeri is believed to be in Tehran, though he has spoken five times to the FBI over the phone.
In a complaint filed in New York prosecutors said an official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard told Shakeri to devise a plan to eliminate the President elect.
The Justice Department also charged two US men allegedly recruited to kill a journalist.
The pair — Carlisle Rivera, also known as “Pop”, 49, of Brooklyn, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island — knew Shakeri from prison.
The FBI released images of seized weapons. Its chief Christopher Wray said: “The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down Americans on US soil, and that simply won’t be tolerated. Thanks to the hard work of the FBI, their deadly schemes were disrupted.”
Trump’s staff requested unprecedented levels of extra security including a ballistic glass shield at rallies in swing states.
Trump has named his head of the Secret Service as as the man who put his life on the line for the incoming blood-stained President.
Sean Curran helped cover Trump from the gunman who opened fire at him during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July.
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Curran had served as the head of Trump's security detail for the last two and a half years.
He bravely put his body on the line during the close-run assassination attempt by Thomas Crook that shocked the world.
Why does Iran hate Trump?
Iran has appeared to take assassinating Donald Trump seriously after he killed Qasem Soleimani in a 2020 airstrike.
The death became a major sore point for the country as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard controls much of the state's military power.
Important figures in the country like one Iranian spy said Trump should be executed.
Two hitmen were arrested as part of an alleged for-hire plot to take out Trump before the November 5 election.
Trump wanted Soleimani to be assassinated because he claims the military leader had killed or wounded thousands of Americans - and was "plotting to kill many more."
On January 3, 2020, Gen Soleimani had landed after travelling from either Syria or Lebanon at around 12.30am when he was met by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization forces in Iraq.
As the cars passed through a cargo area for an access road leading out of the airport, the vehicle was struck by at least two missiles by a US MQ9 Reaper drone which was being controlled remotely.
At least two missiles were fired at the vehicles - killing the general and others on board.
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