Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., made the startling claim Thursday that there are at least five known assassination teams in the U.S. conspiring to assassinate Donald Trump.
Gaetz told Just the News and Breitbart that a senior Homeland Security official told him about the five assassination conspiracies before Sunday’s latest attempt on Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course.
“Three of them that we know are foreign in nature. Two of them we know are domestic in nature, and that calls for a force protection that we do not have around the former president right now,” Gaetz said said, adding that DHS officials are “aware of this and were concerned that the Secret Service was not providing sufficient support.”
“Three of these teams are foreign-inspired, from my understanding - Iranians, Ukraine, Pakistan - and, you know, the work is obviously challenging to protect—protective detail, like a presidential campaign that is vigorous and out campaigning,” Gaetz said.
Matt Gaetz says the DHS knows of 5 assassination teams targeting President Trump, 3 of which are "inspired by other governments," 2 of which are domestic.
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Gaetz didn’t go into detail about the alleged assassination teams.
Sunday’s would-be assassin, Ryan Routh, may have been the Ukrainian-inspired conspiracy he referred to. As has been widely documented, Routh went to Ukraine in 2022 and claimed to have helped recruit fighters for the country’s war against Russia.
Routh’s actions in Ukraine apparently disturbed his colleagues there. One of them, a nurse named Chelsea Walsh, reported him to Customs and Border Protection in June 2022.
Walsh again reported him to the FBI and Interpol last year, after she heard that was attempting to recruit Syrian refugees to fight in Ukraine.
“She filed an online report with the FBI and Interpol outlining her concerns about Routh and others, she said. Neither Customs nor the FBI followed up with her,” the WSJ reported earlier this week.
One of the other plots cited by Gaetz is likely related to the Pakistani man arrested on July 12 for allegedly trying to hire undercover FBI agents to assassinate Donald Trump.
Internal FBI documents leaked to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, earlier this month included new information about the Pakistani terrorist’s alleged Iranian handler, as well as his movements and interactions in the U.S.
Both Merchant and Routh have pled not guilty in their respective cases.
