“A new low”: WSJ editorial board slams Trump for leaving ex-staffers open to assassination

the Wall Street Journal The editorial board on Thursday criticized the president Donald Trump To leave three former foreign policy advisers open to a possible Iranian attack.

The New York Times reported Thursday Trump withdrew previous state names Mike PompeoSecurity detail as well as his aide Brian Hook on Wednesday, after the former national security adviser was removed John Bolton Secret Service details hours after his inauguration.

Opinion writers for the Murdoch-owned conservative paper acknowledged that “the fall from President Trump’s good graces is an occupational hazard” for his staff, but called the move a “new low.”

The magazine’s editorial board said, “If Iran commits violence against any of these men, Mr. Trump will not be able to escape some responsibility,” while pointing to a failed assassination plot against Bolton by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Bolton and Pompeo fell out with the former president in 2019 and 2021 respectively, the former for his foreign policy views and the latter for his criticism of Trump’s election.

All three men received protection beyond their term due to credible threats of violence from the Iranian government after the first Trump administration was killed Qasem Soleimani. Iranian revenge plots for Soleimani’s killing included a plan to assassinate Trump himself, A November Department of Justice report alleged.

The WSJ appeal claims, perhaps somewhat naively, that Trump “doesn’t seem to be taking this all [potential violence] “This seriously,” he urged him not to make security decisions based on “some vindictive whim.”

The removals of security details come alongside other actions that critics say raise the specter of violence for President Trump’s political opponents. Trump Pardon more than 1,500 January 6 They include Enrique Tarrio and Stuart Rhodes, sentenced to more than a decade for leading violent militias, and anti-abortion paramilitaries who injured a nurse with a siege at a reproductive care clinic.