Justice Department refers to Iranian missile threat in Turkey as assassination plot

The Justice Department indicated in a new filing Friday that a security threat against President Donald Trump in Turkey last month was an assassination plot from Iran.

The note was part of the department's emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to allow the White House to construct a new ballroom amid an ongoing legal battle. 

Solicitor General John Sauer argued recent national security threats indicate the project must proceed without delay, because the ballroom project is also set to include a below-ground military complex and a drone port, according to The Hill. 

“President Trump has been the target of a growing number of recent assassination attempts,” the solicitor general wrote in his appeal, citing the July 8 “threat of a missile attack against Air Force One” along with other reported incidents. 

The comment comes after Trump confirmed his advisers told him to switch military planes last month in Turkey in order to avoid an Iranian threat. The president's security team reportedly told Trump to hide inside a catering truck in order to board the new plane, which was different than the one widely reported.

The incident occurred while the president was on a trip to a NATO summit in Ankara. Officials announced Trump would depart Turkey in an older presidential plane because of security concerns, officials told the news media, apparently as part of the larger plan to protect Trump, who in late-February launched a conflict with Iran that is still ongoing.

After boarding the older aircraft, Trump secretly got off via the catering vehicle and moved to a smaller Air Force C-32A. The Qatari-gifted plane, the older aircraft used as Air Force One, and the C-32A then departed for the United Kingdom, where Trump boarded the Qatari-gifted plane for home. 

The appeal comes after the Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 on Aug. 7 to uphold a preliminary injunction, stopping construction on a $400 million ballroom on the White House's demolished East Wing. 

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued last year after the Trump administration tore down the East Wing to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom without authorization from Congress.

Sauer said the injunction, if allowed to go into effect, "would wrongfully install a single district judge as sole arbiter of what further construction is ‘strictly necessary’ to protect the safety of the President, his family, staff members, and visitors to the White House, including foreign dignitaries, and presidents and prime ministers of other countries."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.