US Rep. Mike Turner called out President Joe Biden's administration for drawing “no red lines” with Iran following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee criticized Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in an interview with CBS News for not doing anything about the Islamic Republic of Iran's threats to the Republican presidential nominee.
Reports that Iran was behind the hacking of the Trump campaign and online disinformation against him come amid an acknowledgment of a potential plot to assassinate the former president.
“I think what's missing here is a response from the administration,” Turner told Margaret Brennan on CBS News' “Face The Nation” on Sunday.
(Video credit: CBS News/Face The Nation)
“You have Microsoft coming forward and saying that the Trump campaign had been hacked. The administration, the Biden administration, had identified that Iran was trying to do this, including disinformation,” the Ohio Republican said.
“But even more, the administration has acknowledged that Iran was executing a plan to assassinate Donald Trump, even claiming that an individual in their possession was part of that plot,” the president continued. Intelligence Committee.
Turner likened Iran's alleged involvement in the assassination attempt to an “act of war.”
“Yet, you don't really have an answer from the administration. Most national security experts strongly agree that killing a presidential candidate would be an act of war by a foreign power. Well, certainly try to…at least requires a response,” he said.
“And in that, the administration, both on the hacking side, and on the disinformation side, and the alleged attempt on Donald Trump's life, is not holding Iran accountable,” Turner said.
Asif Merchant, a Pakistani with ties to the Iranian government, was arrested on July 12, just one day before the attack on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. Federal sources said there was no connection between the plot involving Butler's shooter and Merchant looking to commit a murder-for-hire.
“This dangerous assassination plot exposed in today's charges was allegedly orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian playbook,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a press release. “A foreign-led plot to kill a public official, or any American citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full power and resources of the FBI.”
NEW: DOJ announces it has charged a Pakistani national with ties to Iran in a plot to assassinate current and former US government officials on US soil in retaliation for the killing of Soleimani. The DOJ says Asif Merchant flew to the US in April after spending time in Iran and then traveled… pic.twitter.com/Hjp0L90BVT
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) August 6, 2024
“This is not a law enforcement issue, is it? This is not a law enforcement issue,” Turner said in response to Merchant's arrest.
“This is a nation-state that the administration has identified as having executed a plot to try to assassinate Donald Trump and is conducting disinformation, election interference, including hacking,” he said. “This requires a response from the administration.”
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said last week that the Justice Department “will spare no resources to disrupt and hold accountable those who carry out Iran's deadly plot against Americans.”
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