Concerned about what they believed were plans by Russia to sneak Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder had lived since 2012, and onward to Moscow, CIA and Trump administration officials also discussed crashing a car into a Russian diplomatic vehicle carrying Assange and ripping him out of it; potential gunfights with Kremlin operatives on the streets of London; and shooting out the tires of a Russian plane carrying Assange before it could take off, among other measures, according to former officials.

Pompeo did not respond to multiple interview queries by Yahoo News, and a detailed request for comment, sent over a two-month period prior to the story’s publication.