Former Diplomat Says US ‘Shouldn’t Believe’ Trump is ‘Immune’ to Threats: ‘We Attempt This Against Others’

The United States “shouldn’t believe” that President Donald Trump or any leader is “immune” to threats, said former U.S. diplomat Richard Haass Tuesday.

Haass, a former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, joined MS NOW as part of a panel to discuss Trump’s July Air Force One switch. The Washington Post reported on Monday that the president didn’t travel in a Qatari-gifted airplane due to Iranian threats against him, but White House reporters remained on the original plane he was meant to travel on.

When asked if he was “surprised” such a serious threat was made to Trump’s life, Haass answered, “I’m sorry to say I wasn’t.”

He continued:

Again, Iran plays, shall we say, hardball. They’ve gone after, you’ve seen how how they treated their own people. We’ve seen things they’ve done around the world. And by the way, they’re not unique.

We’ve seen how someone like Putin goes after his opponents. So no, we ought to take it seriously. They obviously have to worry on the Iranian side that if they were to do something like this and we caught them in the act about the possible then escalation, what we would do to them. But no, this is a country that has supported proxies, has carried out terrorism, has killed civilians for decades.

This has been a violent revolution over the last nearly half a century. So, no, I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m not surprised. And we shouldn’t think that we have a kind of refuge, that we can attempt this against others and think that we’re immune from retaliation or retribution. Again, we are in many ways an extraordinarily open society.

The report from the Post sparked outcry after it was revealed the president reportedly left journalists and White House staff aboard the threatened plane. Trump was joined on the second plane by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Those on the first plane were not aware the president was not on board.

Watch the above via MS NOW.

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