Biden Admin Refused to Grant Nikki Haley Secret Service Protection Despite Iranian Threats

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley remains without government-provided security, despite facing years of credible threats from Iranian-linked actors, including one revealed as recently as Thursday.

A source close to Haley told The Daily Wire that the former South Carolina governor was told in 2021 that Iran had placed her on a “kill list” because of her work at the UN. The FBI told Haley during her presidential campaign that Tehran was targeting her campaign.

Haley mentioned the FBI’s warning during her campaign. During a Sunday interview with CBS’s Face the Nation, Haley revealed that she was targeted by an Iranian-backed “murder-for-hire plot,” which was foiled in July.

“When I was running my presidential campaign the FBI had a separate hearing with me to let me know that Iran was influencing the election with our campaign to hurt me,” she said. “The murder-for-hire plot, named me. That’s by Iran.”

Revelation of the threats against Haley come as the Secret Service falls under scrutiny following the failed assassination attempt on President Trump in July at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally. In May Trump said Haley would “absolutely” be on his “team in some form” if he wins in November. During her CBS interview, Haley said she spoke to Trump in June and “he’s aware that I’m ready if he ever needs me” to campaign for him.

The source close to Haley said she asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for protection on January 26, 2024, after the campaign received an increase in threats. 

Incidents included a would-be attacker trying to climb over a staffer to enter the car carrying Haley at a New Hampshire rally. Though he was stopped by security, he showed up at additional campaign rallies. Anti-Israel protesters also became violent with staff and rally attendees and refused to leave at other events. 

Haley’s South Carolina home has been repeatedly targeted, and visited by unknown individuals. Haley has received multiple death threats deemed credible by law enforcement, according to the source.

On February 13, the Candidate Protection Advisory Committee informed the Haley campaign it was reviewing the candidate’s request for protection. The committee voted in favor of granting Haley a protective detail, leaving the final decision to Mayorkas, the Associated Press reported on February 16. Haley never heard back from Mayorkas, and suspended her campaign on March 6.

Other former Trump officials who have received similar threats from Iran have received government-provided security, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and one of his top aides, Brian Hook, both of whom had their details renewed in December 2023. It was the 13th time Pompeo received an extension.

Former Trump national security advisors John Bolton and Robert O’Brien also received Secret Service protection long after leaving office, in response to Iranian threats. Bolton, who was ousted from the White House in September 2019, did not receive protection until December 2021, when Iranian threats were made known, according to CBS News. The FBI granted Secret Service protection for Bolton, reported Fox News.

A Secret Service spokesman confirmed that Bolton is still receiving protection thanks to an executive order. He added that the agency is not responsible for determining who receives protection.

According to FBI records from July, a 46-year-old Pakistani citizen with ties to Iran, Asif Merchant was charged with attempting to hire a hitman to steal documents, murder a politician, and plan a protest as a distraction after the murder. Merchant was caught after offering $5,000 to two undercover agents to carry out the hit. He was arrested on July 12, 2024, the day he planned to leave the United States.

The FBI documents do not mention the intended target, and instead say Merchant — who has wives and children in both Iran and Pakistan — was planning to give instructions about who he planned to have assassinated once he left the United States 

On Thursday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released new information about an Iran-backed plot to assassinate prominent politicians including President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, and Haley.

The document released by Grassley on Thursday states that Trump, Biden, and Haley were floated as possible targets.

Grassley obtained the unclassified FBI records through legally-protected whistleblower disclosures. The document has since been removed from Grassley’s website.

The assassination plot was reportedly planned in retaliation for the Trump administration’s 2020 assassination of Qasem Solemaini, leader of Iran’s Quds Force leader and architect of Iranian terror in the Middle East. Haley applauded Solemaini’s death, stating it left the Iranian regime’s leaders “shaking in their boots.”

Iran sanctioned Haley in January 2022, the second anniversary of Solemaini’s death. Haley called the sanctions a “badge of honor.”

“When you get sanctioned by Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, you know you’re doing something right,” Haley tweeted.

Grassley said he wrote the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Secret Service, and Transportation Security Administration to learn what steps they’ve taken to investigate the plot. He added that he sent the letter after an “inconclusive” DHS-FBI congressional briefing last week failed to “provide full transparency” 

“Bad actors are determined to wreak havoc on our country, and American political leaders across both parties are sitting squarely in the crosshairs,” Grassley said in a press release. “In this extraordinarily heightened threat environment, federal agencies ought to be laser-focused on building up public trust and reassuring the American people of their efforts to carry out their protective missions.”

The FBI declined to comment. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.