Iran’s alleged plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump and hack the Trump campaign amount to “an act of war,” according to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Just days after a would-be assassin’s bullet grazed Trump’s ear in July, the FBI announced that Iran had allegedly been separately plotting to kill the former president. Federal officials later revealed that Iran had hacked and stolen confidential information from the Trump campaign.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Iranian officials have denied involvement in any plot to assassinate Trump and called the hacking accusation “unsubstantiated and devoid of any standing.”

    Where is the assassination attempt coming from?

    Article says Trump’s campaign claims the FBI said it. Which doesn’t mean shit, Trump’s campaign (and especially the piece of shit quoted) lie about damn near everything.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        No. That says a man who had recently visited the Middle East, and make no mention of a specified target…

        That is in no way the same as “Iran tried to assassinate trump”.

        • commandar@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Court documents do not identify any of the potential targets. But U.S. officials acknowledged in July that a threat on Donald Trump’s life from Iran prompted additional security in the days before a Pennsylvania rally in which Trump was injured by a shooter’s bullet. That July 13 shooting, carried out by a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man, was unrelated to the Iran threat and Merchant’s arrest has no connection to the Trump assassination attempt, a law enforcement official said.

          https://apnews.com/article/iran-pakistan-murderforhire-trump-justice-department-5a3abe0895ae7c2be14f89fc4e49bc53

          This is a story that has been building for a few months. While I’m not particularly convinced that this specific threat was particularly credible, there’s been plenty of reporting that the Biden DOJ is taking this seriously.

          It’s not really surprising to me that Iran would want Trump dead. I don’t think they were anywhere close to actually accomplishing that, but I can certainly believe they’d try.

          Yes, Trump and the rest of the rightwing are going to blow it up into something bigger than what actually happened, but it’s important to understand the truth in the lie because the story is potentially consequential in the wider relationship between the US and Iran.

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            That’s still not showing any connection to the Iranian government…

            Just that this guy has a wife and children that live in Iran…

            Which is a pretty good reason why he spends time in Iran btw.

            In your quote the “from Iran” just doesn’t mean what you think it means

            I understand this might seem a little pedantic, but the difference is fucking huge and trump’s campaign is exploiting the same misunderstanding that you’re having right now

            • commandar@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              My “misunderstanding” is having followed this story for more than a single headline.

              Marcy Wheeler has written extensively about it for months now. She’s been at the center of the story to the extent that she was one of the journalists that (presumably Iran) attempted to leak hacked Trump campaign documents through. She’s very adamantly of the stance that there is a real threat because it’s been corroborated by multiple sources who don’t have any interest in propping up Trump.

              https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/09/25/dont-make-the-same-mistake-with-iran-that-denialists-made-with-russia/

              I fear that, because of the polarization Trump has deliberately stoked, many lefties are doing the same thing that Trump’s MAGAts did with Russia: treat credible allegations that Iran is targeting him, both for hacking and assassination, as a hoax.

              Regarding the hacking, as happened in 2016, it is not just the Intelligence Community (one, two) attributing the hack in real time. Both Microsoft and Google have described the operation. As I explained repeatedly regarding the 2016 Russian attack, big American tech companies have a similar kind of global reach as the NSA, and when someone uses their infrastructure to target someone, they have both the tools and an independent incentive to get the attribution right. There’s really no reason to doubt the attribution, from three of the entities with the best global reach in the world, that Iran targeted Trump’s campaign.

              Regarding Iran’s attempt to assassinate Trump, there’s also no reason to doubt that. While the case against Asif Merchant, whom DOJ accused of trying to solicit a variety of operations targeting Trump, does rely on undercover FBI employees posing as wannabe hitmen, the underlying tip — from the guy Merchant allegedly asked for help recruiting a hit team — appears to be organic, just someone calling the cops. Plus, the effort bears certain resemblance to the effort to solicit assassins for John Bolton, arising from the same motive of revenge for the Qassem Soleimani killing.

              Trump’s a blowhard. He’s absolutely going to use the story as a wedge. Don’t do his work for him by dismissing the possibility of what appear to be real threats out of hand.

              I’m not saying we know the exact nature of what’s going on or that any threat is particularly immediate; what I am saying is that there’s enough information available from sources that aren’t affiliated with Trump that the possibility should be taken seriously.

              • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                there’s also no reason to doubt that

                Yet she offers absolutely zero evidence it is connected to Iran’s government…

                You’re conflating evidence of them hacking, and saying that proves there was a state sponsored effort to recruit an assain to kill trump.

                We do t even know if he’s the target…

                What is so hard to understand about literally any of this?

                I’ve honestly ran out of ways to keep saying the two very basic points here

                • commandar@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  I’ve honestly ran out of ways to keep saying the two very basic points here

                  Repeating yourself does seem to be your priority here.

                  If you had actually read through the piece I linked instead of looking for something to immediately disagree with in the snippet I quoted, you’d see she linked to this story. The entire reason we’re hearing about this now is because Trump was briefed on the threat by US intelligence and Trump is literally incapable of not immediately repeating what he’s been told.

                  And if you took 20 seconds to Google after that, you’d find that the DNI has publicly confirmed that the briefing with Trump happened. Additionally, the same story has Anthony Blinken confirming that the US has been tracking Iranian threats against Trump as well as other past and current officials. It even links to multiple previous reports discussing an increased threat profile dating back months just like I said was the case.

                  My point is that Trump is not the only source and that there’s been corroboration from parties who really don’t care about making Trump look good. I’m not inclined to believe the story because Trump said it and, yes, Trump is absolutely a liar; I’m inclined to believe it because it’s been fairly widely reported well before Trump said anything at all.