Despite Democrats' complaint, Trump threat apparently was real

                                                                                      

Donald Trump at Nassau Coliseum in September

Remember when Nassau Democrats indignantly complained about the costs of security at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign rally at the Coliseum in September?

The rally drew thousands -- many more than the Coliseum's 16,000-person in-house capacity -  and snarled traffic for miles round the Uniondale arena.

A day after the Sept. 18 rally, Nassau legislative Democrats filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, contending that taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for security at a campaign event, calculating that the use of county police and public works employees at the rally likely cost $1 million.

"Yesterday was the biggest taxpayer-funded political event in Nassau County history — and that is saying a lot," Legis. Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove), the Nassau legislature's minority leader, said at a news conference in Mineola, Newsday reported. "County taxpayers were forced to foot the bill of a partisan rally orchestrated by Bruce Blakeman and the Trump campaign." 

Legis. Seth Koslow, a Merrick Democrat who is challenging Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman this fall, said then, "We didn't say the police should not be there. The police should be there. We want everyone safe. But the campaign should pay for that additional service. It shouldn't be on the taxpayers to deal with that and pay that cost," Newsday reported.

Of course, Trump was not just a candidate. He was a former president. He is president again after being elected in November,  -- collecting a clear majority of Nassau votes in his race against Democrat vice president Kamala Harris.

By the time Trump appeared in Uniondale, he had beem shot in the ear as part of an assassination attempt in July and was targeted by another apparent shooter just three days before the Coliseum event.

Nevertheless, he was a political candidate.

But now we know the threat against Trump was apparently real.

Axios reported yesterday: "The Secret Service warned campaign leaders after a Sept. 18 rally on Long Island, N.Y., that they had intelligence that someone might be looking to shoot up his motorcade."

This is according to a book -- "Revenge: The inside story of Trump's Return to Power: --by Politico's national reporter Alex Isenstadt.

"Iran's threat to assassinate Donald during the 2024 campaign was far more serious than publicly known — and led to extraordinary precautions by his team." Isentstadt wrote. 

A week after the Coliseum rally,  Secret Service with Trump during a Pennsylvania trip allegedly opened up the moonroof of their car and shot down a drone that was following the candidate's motorcade, the Axios story said.

But hey, as Koslow decared at the time about the FEC compaint, it's "not about safety or leadership, it's about corruption," Newsday reported.

So far, no word about the SEC investigating Democrat's complaint.