Donald Trump Jr. had a surprising reaction Tuesday to reports that Iran plotted to have his father, former President Trump, assassinated, calling it “maybe the great political endorsement ever.”
The eldest Trump son, who is a vocal surrogate for his father’s campaign, made the comment in an interview on “Hannity” live from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee just as the former president arrived donning a visible bandage on his right ear for the second night in a row.
Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Donald Trump Jr. laugh during the Republican National Convention Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
“I think it’s sort of a great endorsement. When people like Iran want to take you out, that probably means it’s good for America, bad for Iran,” Trump Jr. said. “That may be the greatest political endorsement ever. But when that happens, their capabilities are much more than a kid with a rifle.”
The Department of Homeland Security received intelligence from a human source on an Iranian plot to assassinate former President Trump, Fox News has been told by two federal law enforcement sources. CNN first reported that there has been an increase in Secret Service protection for Trump in recent weeks because of this intelligence. DHS and Secret Service have increasingly been concerned about Trump holding outdoor events, Fox News is told.
The plot doesn’t appear to be connected to Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, the gunman who shot Trump during his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, the sources said. Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations denied the allegations, calling them “unsubstantiated and malicious” in a statement to Fox News Digital. Trump directed the January 2020 strike that killed Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Forces.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Trump Jr.’s defiant tone Tuesday comes a day after he was seen tearfully welcoming his father to the GOP convention in his first public appearance following the attempt on his life. As former President Trump walked through a packed convention floor roaring with applause, his eldest son became visibly emotional.
“It was allergies,” he quipped when Sean Hannity asked how Saturday’s assassination attempt against his father affected him personally.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance sit with Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle and Eric Trump during Day 1 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 15, 2024. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
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“Not a lot of crying in the Trump family, but that moment, it was so heavy. 48 hours later…just the emotion…but also the love that we felt here,” he said. “What I saw over the last couple days here in Milwaukee was just incredible.”
Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.