ROUGH PATCH

WSJ Turns on Trump Over Yanked Security for Aides

The newspaper criticized the president’s decision to remove security protection for his three former advisers.

While The Wall Street Journal’s editorial division has famously leaned right for years, the outlet seems to be growing critical of President Donald Trump, with a new opinion piece condemning his decision to remove security protection for John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and Brian Hook. Published Thursday, the piece spotlights the slippery slope of Trump’s decision to leave his three former advisers unprotected when they have all been threatened by Iran. In 2022, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was charged by the Justice Department for scheming to kill Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser. Meanwhile, Pompeo and Hook, Trump’s former secretary of state and Iran envoy respectively, reportedly learned of their security protection loss on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press, and have both received “credible” threats against them, WSJ adds. “When you have protection, you can’t have it for the rest of your life,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “I mean, there’s risks to everything,” he added, explaining his decision.