Donald Trump refuses to answer questions at New York probe, US charges Iranian with plot to kill John Bolton

“Your family, your company, and everyone around you has become the target of an unsubstantiated, politically motivated witch hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors and the fake news media,” Trump said. When you don’t have a choice.”

In the statement, Trump also made disparaging comments about violent crimes in James and New York state.

Trump tried to link state attorney general’s probe to Monday’s probe FBI raids Florida home Mar-a-LagoIt represents an escalating federal investigation into whether he illegally removed records from the White House when he resigned as president in January 2021.

In June, Trump agreed to testify in a three-year investigation after a court decision dismissed his claim that the investigation was politically motivated and didn’t need to. was.

Bolton assassination plot

The US Justice Department has indicted Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard member Shahram Pursafi for plotting to kill former Trump national security adviser John Bolton.

Pursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezai, 45, from Tehran, is in retaliation for the death of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in January 2020. , argued that there was likely a motive for murdering Bolton.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Iran does not have an extradition treaty with the United States and Pursafi is on the run. The FBI has released a Most Wanted poster.

According to the criminal complaint, Pursafi asked a U.S. resident, identified only as “Individual A,” to photograph Bolton, under the pretense that the photographs were needed for an upcoming book. The U.S. resident then referred her Poursafi to a secret government informant who could be photographed for a fee.

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Investigators said Pursafi contacted an informant the following month via an encrypted messaging app and offered $250,000 ($352,000) to hire someone to “eliminate” Bolton.

According to an affidavit supporting the accusations, when an informant asked Poursafi to be more specific with his demands, he said he wanted to purge “that man” and provided Bolton’s first and last name.

He later instructed informants to open cryptocurrency accounts to facilitate payments. In a subsequent correspondence, he told his informant that it didn’t matter how the killing took place, but that his “group” would need the video as proof that the deed had taken place. .

In a statement on Twitter Wednesday, Bolton thanked the Justice Department for taking action.

“I can’t say much at this point, but one point is indisputable,” he said. “Iranian rulers are liars, terrorists and enemies of the United States.”

The State Department has not yet commented on whether the decision to indict Pursafi is somehow related to US diplomacy seeking to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Reuters

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