President Donald Trump has officially revoked the surveillance information for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former U. S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Brian Hook. The two former Trump representatives had received protection information under the Biden-Harris management due to dangers from Iran.
The New York Times initially reported Trump’s shift to withdraw Pompeo and Hook’s safety information, citing four sources familiar with the president ’s activity. On Thursday, a legislative staffer and another source familiar with the situation confirmed the senator ’s determination to The Associated Press. The resources indicated that both Pompeo and Hook were informed on Wednesday that they would be losing their security details by 11 p. m.
The New York Post reported that while previous administration officials are not usually provided with security details after leaving office, original President Joe Biden authorized security details for Pompeo, Hook, and John Bolton, a former national security adviser to Trump, according to continuing threats from Iran over their big criticism of the world’s leading state sponsor of terror and involvement in the strike that killed Qassim Suleimani, a leading Iranian military leader, in 2020.
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According to The Associated Press, both Pompeo and Hook had received constant protection by the Diplomatic Security Service under the Biden-Harris administration ’s State Department since January 21, 2021. The outlet noted that a 2022 document provided by the State Department indicated the agency was paying more than$ 2 million per month to protect the two former administration officials.
In addition to revoking the security details for Pompeo and Hook, Trump also revoked the security detail for Bolton earlier this week, according to The New York Post. Addressing his decision to remove Bolton’s security detail, Trump told reporters, “ I think there was enough time. We take a job, you take a job, you want to do a job, we’re not going to have security on people for the rest of their lives. Why should we? ”
In a statement to Newsweek following the president ’s decision, Bolton said, “ I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has made this decision. ” He added, “Despite my criticisms of President Biden’s national security policies, he made the decision to extend Secret Service protection to me in 2021. ”
