Former Secret Service agent Rich Staropoli said the “level of distrust” by local law enforcement for the Secret Service has “compounded” the problem after former President Trump survived a second assassination attempt on Sunday.
Staropoli said during a Tuesday appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that federal law enforcement “absolutely dropped the ball” in the second assassination attempt on Trump.
Democrats, pundits link Trump’s rhetoric to second attempt on his life: ‘Big part of the problem’
Democrats and media pundits have linked
former President Trump’s rhetoric to the second assassination attempt against him in the last few months and have called on Trump to lower the temperature.
“This really seems to be the confluence of two very bad things going on in the Republican Party,” Rep. Mickie Sherrill, D-N.J., told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Monday, accusing the GOP of attempting to “divide” and “enrage the population” through “false rumors and misinformation.”
The former president has blamed the assassination attempt on rhetoric coming from Democrats, specifically President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
CNN commentator Ana Navarro on Tuesday argued that Trump did not “get to be a very big part of the problem and then pretend that it’s just the other people on the other side who caused this.”
“Quit blaming folks until you decide to take a look at what’s coming out of your mouth,” “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said on Tuesday. She also argued that only Republicans were contributing to violent rhetoric.
The New York Times’ Zolan Kanno-Youngs joined CNN’s Dana Bash on Tuesday and said, “you have a former president who, yes, has been the target of apparent assassinations twice, but is also an instigator of political violence.”
NBC News’ Lester Holt, just hours after the assassination attempt, said the attempt on Trump’s life followed “fierce rhetoric” from the former president and his running mate, JD Vance.
Fox News’ Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
Trump assassination plot exposes Ryan Routh’s bomb bust, barricade with illegal gun
Ryan Routh, the man named as a suspect in what authorities believe was an assassination attempt against former President Trump
on Sunday, deteriorated from a successful roofer to a man who thought the IRS was sending the cops after him, according to a retired officer who had more than 100 interactions with Routh.
Routh’s arrest record in Guilford County, North Carolina, spans between the 1980s and 2010, and his charges range from writing multiple bad checks to felony firearm possession, possession of a stolen vehicle and multiple counts of possession of a weapon of mass destruction in 2002 — specifically, a “binary explosive with a 10-in[ch] detonation cord and a blasting cap.”
“Routh’s attitude was that he was above everybody. He could do what he wanted,” Eric Rasecke, a retired Greensboro Police Department officer and Air Force veteran, told Fox News Digital. “It didn’t matter. He was pretty entitled. … He ran his mouth quite a bit about how he could get off and how he owned a successful business and nobody could do anything to him and he knew everybody in Greensboro.”
The first time Rasecke met Routh was in the late 1990s when the now-retired officer pulled him over for a traffic violation.
“You’d see him all the time riding his company trucks,” Rasecke said. He saw Routh at least once a day because the suspect lived and worked in Rasecke’s patrol zone.
“It would be not uncommon to have him cited many times a week. He was brazen about it,” Rascecke said of Routh’s blatant and repeated use of a vehicle with an expired license and registration. “He would never try to hide it.”
Read the full article by Fox News’ Audrey Conklin.
Trump assassination attempt: Why Florida prosecutor says ‘insanity’ defense won’t stick for suspect
Ryan Wesley Routh’s affinity for the Ukrainian cause in the country’s fight against a Russian invasion shows he knows enough about right and wrong to make an insanity defense a tough sell in connection with his alleged failed assassination plot against former President Trump, according to a Florida prosecutor.
State Attorney Dave Aronberg, who is not handling Routh’s case after federal prosecutors claimed jurisdiction, said that although the suspect was seen smiling and laughing with defense lawyers in his first court appearance Monday, his “manic” demeanor doesn’t strike him as criminally insane.
“He fled after all, tried to get away and escape,” he said. “So that shows you that he knew the difference between right and wrong. What’s ironic about this guy is that he also understood that the Ukrainians were the good guys in their fight against the Russians – but to try to make his point, he was trying to do an evil act in attempting apparently to kill someone.”
“This is something where this guy has got a real disconnect in his value system,” Aronberg said. “There’s a screw loose somewhere, it’s just [that] in my mind, not enough to sustain an insanity defense under the law.”
Read the full article by Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and Julia Bonavita.
Ryan Routh often ‘played the victim,’ retired NC officer says
Ret. Greensboro PD Officer Eric Rasecke told Fox News Digital the suspect charged in the second assassination attempt of former President Trump often “played the victim.”
Rasecke said he encountered Trump would-be assassin suspect Ryan Routh more than 100 times over his career.
Trump reveals ‘weakness’ in efforts to keep him safe, says his team ‘long requested’ more manpower
Former President Trump said his security detail has “long requested” more manpower leading up to the assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pa., in July, and said if there’s a “weakness” in efforts to keep him safe, it’s the need for more personnel.
Trump spoke with Fox News host Sean Hannity two days after a second apparent assassination attempt on his life while he was playing golf in West Palm Beach.
“We have long requested more people, more men and women, but more people. And because, you know, we have rallies [of] 50-60,000 [people]. In New Jersey, we had 107,000 people show up. There’s never been anything like it. And we have long requested more people. That’s true. That’s the weakness. If there’s a weakness, I really think that’s the weakness,” he said on “Hannity.”
“We have tremendous rallies and crowds, and that’s a good thing, but you need more protection. And we’ve long requested more people. We have, I will say in Butler, we wanted more people. I heard them say it, you know, we need more people here for security. And we never seem to get that. And I think we are getting it now. Somebody told me that they will be providing more people now.”
Ronald Rowe, Jr., the acting director of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), told reporters Monday that since the assassination attempt on Trump two months ago, the USSS has moved to increase assets to an “already enhanced security posture” for the 2024 GOP nominee.
Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., introduced bipartisan legislation that would seek to grant both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris the same USSS resources as President Biden.
Suspected would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged Monday with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and having a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
Trump, Jr. reassures Americans his father will ‘keep fighting’ with ‘same resolve’ from Butler
Donald Trump Jr., son of former President Trump, responded to his father surviving a second assassination attempt on Sunday in Florida.
He said during a Tuesday appearance on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” that his father will “keep fighting” after the latest attempt on his life with the “same resolve” he did following the first assassination attempt more than two months ago in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump wants to meet woman he says helped lead authorities to assassination attempt suspect
Former President Trump said he wants to meet the woman who supposedly alerted authorities to the vehicle being driven by a man accused of attempting to take his life on Sunday.
Trump was speaking to supporters at a town hall in Flint, Michigan when he recalled the attempt on his life in Florida on Sunday. The suspect fled the golf course where he allegedly planned to kill Trump before fleeing on foot and then in a vehicle.
“A woman driving in a car saw a man on the street,” Trump said. “Pretty busy street running, and she followed him. And he got into the car and she stopped because she thought he was trouble. He looked different. He looked like trouble. She followed him.”
“It wasn’t very far and parked the car behind his car and started taking pictures of his license plate,” he added. “She goes in, she takes pictures of the plate, and then she sends the pictures into the sheriff’s office.”
The suspect was arrested by Martin County sheriff’s deputies on Interstate 95. Trump praised the woman for her diligence and attention to detail.
“Who would do this, if you took a thousand of these incidents? Would even one person have done it?” Trump asked. “This woman did. I haven’t met her, but I’d like to meet her. I’m going to meet her, I hope.”
Kamala Harris invokes Ohio, Project 2025 when asked about Secret Service
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the National Association of Black Journalists Tuesday where she was asked to comment on the Secret Service following the second assassination attempt on her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump.
Asked whether she had “full confidence” in the Secret Service to protect her and her family, Harris replied: “I do.”
“But, I mean, you can go back to Ohio,” Harris said, referring to reports of bomb threats against Springfield, Ohio that have been blamed on Republican rhetoric, including from Trump and his running mate, JD Vance.
“And there are far too many people in our country right now who are not feeling safe. I mean, I look at Project 2025 and I look at … the ‘Don’t Say Gay Laws’ coming out of Florida. Members of the LGBTQ community don’t feel safe right now.”
Project 2025, is a policy blueprint compiled by the Heritage Foundation for a “better country for all Americans” during a conservative presidential administration.
The “Don’t Say Gay” bill refers to the Parental Rights in Education, a Florida bill which bans school employees or third parties from giving instruction on “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade. Democrats have labeled the bill “Don’t Say Gay,” falsely claiming that it bans any discussion pertaining to being gay in the state’s schools.
Harris also added “immigrants” and “women” to the people, she alleged, don’t feel safe.
“So, yes I feel safe, I have Secret Service protection, but that doesn’t change my perspective on the importance of fighting for the safety of everybody in our country,” Harris said.
Trump assassination suspect talked about assassinations and killing world leaders, says nurse
The nurse who flagged the man accused of attempting to kill former President Trump over the weekend to authorities said he talked about assassinations “all the time” and “wanted to kill most world leaders.”
Chelsea Walsh said she met Ryan Routh while they were both in Ukraine and alerted the federal government about him but never received a response or follow-up until this week.
“I determined that after knowing Ryan for a while that he was a threat to others,” Walsh told Jesse Watters on “Jesse Watters Primetime.” “I felt that it was necessary that he be reported to the proper authorities.”
She described Routh as having “very volatile” tendencies who talked about killing world leaders.
“He always talked about wanting to kill (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un. He developed plans,” Walsh added.
He also talked about Trump and President Biden but Walsh couldn’t recall exactly what Routh said about them.
“But he did speak frequently about harming world leaders,” she said.
Walsh called Routh a “good con artist” who was able to con members of the Ukrainian military and charities while getting involved with weapons and humanitarian aid despite not having a background in those fields.
She said she eventually left Ukraine early because she felt she was in danger after a conversation she had with him, without disclosing specifics.
“He was one of the reasons that I left Ukraine because I felt that I was in jeopardy by staying there and he was around,” she said.
Trump jokes around while recounting assassination attempts
Former President Trump seemed in good spirits during a town hall with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Tuesday where he cracked jokes about both assassination attempts on him.
Referring to the first assassination attempt, Trump compared himself to a deer who bolted away just before getting shot by a hunter.
“My head was at a perfect angle, and it got me,” Trump said. “But if you got to be hit, that’s the best place.
Trump, who’s ear was grazed, recounted asking the doctor why there was so much blood.
“He said, ‘the ear bleeds more than anything.’ I said, ‘I’ll take it,’” Trump told the audience.
In the second assassination attempt on Sunday, Trump said the Secret Service agent wasted no time after spotting the would-be assassin in the shrubbery roughly a quarter of a mile away on his golf course.
“He didn’t say, ‘hello, what are you doing here, please?’” Trump said, eliciting laughter from the audience. “He took his gun and started shooting them. And this guy ran.”
Trump praised the woman who spotted the suspect getting into a car and speeding away.
“This woman was unbelievable because I actually asked the sheriff it happened a thousand times, would anybody have done that? He said, ‘maybe, but not much, not much,’” Trump said.
Johnson demands White House increase Trump Secret Service detail, expands scope of task force
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he demanded the White House provide former president Trump an increase level of U.S. Secret Service protection.
Johnson, speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, and multiple Republican lawmakers have demanded Trump receive the same level of protection as President Biden.
“I’ve demanded that the White House, today, on the telephone and in writing, that they provide President Trump with every available asset to ensure his protection,” Johnson said. “This is critically important for the White House to do the buck stops at the president’s desk. We will see if they will do that.”
“He is under constant threat. He’s in the midst of a heated campaign, and this is an obvious thing now proven,” he added.
Congress will also expand the scope of the existing task force created to investigate the first assassination attempt against Trump in July to include the most recent attempt on Sunday at a golf course, Johnson said.
“When this happened in Butler, it was unthinkable, that that could happen in that town on that day,” he said. “Now after this, this is totally intolerable. This is not about the party. This is about the American people. We cannot tolerate this type of behavior and think that somehow we’re the America that a million and a half men and women in uniform died to preserve.”
Trump says only ‘consequential presidents get shot at’
Former President Trump told his supporters Tuesday that only “consequential presidents get shot at” while speaking about trade policy with China.
Trump was speaking at a campaign rally in Flint, Michigan when he said he planned to impose a tariff on Chinese car made in Mexico.
“We’re going to charge them. I’m telling you right now, I’m putting a 200% tariff on, which means they’re unsellable, unsellable in the United States,” he said. “And then you wonder why I got shot at right. You know, only consequential presidents get shot at right.”
Trump says he had ‘very nice’ phone call with Kamala Harris
Former President Trump
on Tuesday told an audience at a town hall with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders that he had a “very nice” phone call with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier in the day.
The phone call, came two days after Trump survived yet another assassination attempt within two months.
“I got a very nice call from Kamala,” Trump told the audience, eliciting boos.
“No, it was a very nice. It was very nice. It was very nice and we appreciate that,” Trump said.
Trump says being president is more dangerous than racecar driver, bull riding
President Trump, during a town hall with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said being president is more dangerous than being a racecar driver or bull riding.
“Well, it’s been a great experience. It’s a dangerous business. However, being president, it’s a little bit dangerous. It’s. You know, they think race car driving is dangerous. No, they think bull riding. That’s pretty scary, right? No, this is a dangerous business, and we have to keep it safe,” Trump said.
Secret Service says Trump receiving highest level of security it can provide
The U.S. Secret Service has enhanced its protection of former President Trump following the first attempt on his life in July, the agency said.
“Following the events of July 13 and at the direction of President Biden, the U.S. Secret Service has elevated the protective posture for all our protectees and bolstered our protective details as appropriate in order to ensure the highest levels of safety and security for those we protect,” Melissa McKenzie, a Secret Service Spokesperson, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
Lawmakers have called for Trump to receive the same level of protection given to President Biden following Sunday’s attempt on his life as he was playing a round of golf.
Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe said Monday that Trump was receiving the highest level of protection his agency can provide.
“We will continue to evaluate and adjust our specific protective measures and methodology based on each location and situation,” McKenzie said without going into specifics.
Several media reports said the agency told Trump its agents can’t keep him safe on his golf courses without enhancing his security detail.
Breaking NewsHouse Republicans hope to vote on bill to enhance Secret Service detail for Trump and Harris
House Republican leaders hope to schedule a vote this week on a bipartisan bill that would give Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump the same level of Secret Service protection as president Biden.
The basis of the bill is related to another introduced following the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump, Fox News has learned. Negotiations on the legislation are underway.
It was unclear if the bill to increase Secret Service protection for Harris and Trump would come as a standalone vote or if it could be attached to a government funding bill or another piece of legislation.
Reps. Mike Lawler, a Republican, and Democrat Ritchie Torres, both of New York, announced plans to introduce a bill to provide enhanced protection for Trump, Biden and then-presidential candidate, Robert Kennedy Jr.
Ryan Routh’s ‘poor man’s surveillance’ enough to scout out spot to target Trump: expert
The suspect in the second failed Trump assassination attempt, Ryan Routh, may have relied on “poor man’s surveillance” to target the 45th president as he waited about 12 hours outside the golf club before his arrest on Sunday.
Bill Stanton, a former NYPD officer and an executive protection expert, spoke with Fox News Digital on Tuesday regarding security failures surrounding the second attempt on Trump’s life. Authorities have not yet confirmed how Routh knew Trump would be on that golf course Sunday afternoon, with Stanton saying the suspect may have employed a laser focus on Trump — which he called “Forrest Gump focus” in a nod to the classic 1994 movie — and simply Googled Trump’s frequent non-campaign activities to stake out a location.
“If you have someone with like, this Forrest Gump focus… he could have done a journeyman’s research on Google,” Stanton said, and simply searched, “Where does Trump usually go when he’s home in Florida?” before heading to Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach.
“If I’m that guy, I’m doing that, and then I’m going to do a poor man’s surveillance,” Stanton said, explaining the suspect would keep his eyes peeled for Trump’s caravan to roll up to the course.
“I’m guessing [Trump] has a lead car. I’m guessing he has his main car and then the chase car. So that’s a little motorcade. That’s at minimum three cars, not to mention the advance car. So that’s about four vehicles right there, and [Routh] could have guessed it,” Stanton said of Routh likely monitoring the club for Trump’s motorcade ahead of the attempt.
News broke Sunday afternoon that Trump had been safely escorted from the course at his Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach after reports of gunfire in his vicinity. Trump was not injured during what is being investigated as a likely assassination attempt, with the suspect identified as a 58-year-old man from Hawaii, Ryan Wesley Routh.
Federal authorities on Monday released charging documents related to Routh’s charges stemming from the suspected assassination attempt, and found Routh’s phone was located near the golf club for about 12 hours, beginning at 1:59 a.m. Sunday until approximately 1:31 p.m. that same day.
“Agents requested T-Mobile, on an emergency basis, to provide law enforcement with information pertaining to Routh’s mobile phone usage. Those records indicated that Routh’s mobile phone was located in the vicinity of the area along the tree line from approximately 1:59 AM until approximately 1:31 PM on September 15,” the charging document reads.
Read more about Ryan Routh’s targeting of former President Trump by Emma Colton.
Sen. Rand Paul blames ‘left-wing’ outlets for idea that Trump is threat to democracy
The “left-wing” media outlets that have promoted the idea that former President Trump is a threat to democracy are to blame for the two failed attempts on his life, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said.
“Without question, I blame CNN, MSNBC and all the other left-wing outlets for promoting this idea that Donald Trump is going to end all elections, that democracy is being threatened, that it’s going to be the end of the world,” he told “America Reports.”
He said the news organizations have misinformed the public about Trump’s policy positions and have incited hatred against him.
“Every crazy person in the country now is ginned up,” he said. “So CNN, MSNBC, the Democrats in general need to tone it down because they are inciting this anger.”
“They’re not saying Donald Trump’s policies are wrong. They’re saying that he is evil, that he will ruin the country, they’ll be no more voting… none of that is true. It’s all a lie.”
Democrats have repeatedly called Trump a threat to democracy and have sometimes used incendiary language to dissuade voters from supporting him, according to critics.
“They need to stop it,” said Paul. “We’ve had two shooting episodes in a two-month period. I fear for what comes forward.”
Government, private think tanks hype right-wing threat, ignore left-wing violence: experts
Researchers in government and taxpayer-assisted private think tanks have hyped the threat of “far-right extremists” while failing to acknowledge growing threats of left-wing violence, critics say, pointing to the two assassination attempts against former President Trump to demonstrate the danger posed by some on the left.
“I think it goes without saying that violence of any kind is intolerable,” legal fellow at Heritage Foundation Zach Smith told Fox News Digital
. “It shouldn’t be tolerated in our country. And while I appreciate some of the left have paid lip service to that ideal, they haven’t followed through with their actions. They haven’t followed through in terms of the resources and the willingness to confront the left-wing extremists that we’ve seen.”
Regarding threats against Donald Trump and his associates, Smith said, “We’ve seen condemnations of violence on the left, that’s good, and that’s appropriate.”
Senate Republicans call for greater Secret Service protection for Trump
Republican congressional lawmakers are calling for greater protection for former President Trump following two assassination attempts on his life in as many months.
Some lawmakers have been outraged at the level of protection given to Trump following the two close calls versus when he was in office.
“He’s had two assassination attempts. My God, wake up and smell the roses,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said during a Tuesday news conference. “We’ve got to do something. Let’s not wait till it’s too late. We are not a third world country. And I guarantee you, third world countries give better protection to presidents and former presidents than what we do.”
“I’ve talked to Secret Service agents, and they will tell you ‘all we’re doing is we’re chasing fraudulent money. Counterfeit money instead of doing their job and protection. And in a crucial time in our democracy. They should be doing their job,” he added.
Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., blamed left-wing rhetoric for the political violence surrounding the election. Vice President Kamala Harris and many Democrats have labeled Trump a threat to democracy.
“Leftist activists are out there who have a history of targeted political violence, over-the-top rhetoric from Democrats,” he said.
“It is imperative that President Donald Trump receive what he needs, the protection he needs to keep him safe so that he can continue to campaign so that he can continue to fight for the American people,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. “You know, what we have seen is apparently a lack of resources are planning or focus or a combination of all. Why are they not using drones? Why are they not using dogs? Why do they not have protection at the level that was there when he was president? Why are they not doing that?”
Melania seen leaving Trump Tower under heightened security
Former first lady Melania Trump was spotted leaving Trump Tower under heightened security Tuesday following a second assassination attempt on her husband over the weekend.
Photos obtained exclusively by The New York Post show a convoy of eight vehicles, including an NYPD Emergency Service Unit van, accompanying Mrs. Trump as she left the family’s New York City residence. That’s double what the former first lady usually travels with.
Per the Post, Melania Trump left Trump Tower via the underground parking garage, rather than her usual exit through the side door.
The heightened security also saw Fifth-Sixth Street completely close as the entourage pulled away from Trump Tower.
Task force requests materials from DOJ, FBI related to July attempt on Trump’s life
The bipartisan task force investigating the first assassination attempt of former President Trump has requested documents and interviews from the Justice Department and FBI.
The investigative body requested transcripts from witness interviews and all documents related to the July 13 attempt on Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania.
In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the list includes materials from the U.S. Secret Service, state and local law enforcement, interviews with members of the Trump campaign and Trump himself, as well as relatives of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the alleged shooter.
The task force requested the materials be received by Sept. 24.
Additionally, it is requesting a briefing on the Sunday attempt on Trump’s life in Florida as well, no later than Sept. 20.
Florida AG says Biden and Harris ‘abandoned’ duty to protect Americans a long time ago
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris abandoned their duty to protect Americans a long time ago, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody told Fox News.
Moody said Democrats have amped up violent rhetoric against former
President Trump before and after the first assassination attempt against him in July. In addition, Biden has failed to address the needs of the U.S. Secret Service before and after the second attempt on Trump’s life on Sunday.
“After the first assassination attempt, everyone said ‘Oh, let’s come together.’ President Biden said ‘We need to get them resources. Our president should be safe,’” Moddy told “America Reports.” “Now we’ve had a second assassination attempt and his response was, and I quote ‘They’re going to tell us if they need more resources and Congress should respond to their needs.”
Moody pointed to the rhetoric against Trump from Harris and Biden, who had repeatedly called him a threat to democracy.
“I think that when this president was elected, along with Kamala Harris, they abandoned the sense that they are leading an executive agency charged with enforcing our laws, responsible for protecting our people, they abandoned those roles a long time ago when they started breaking down all security of this nation,” Moody said.
She noted that Biden was forced to apologize for saying it was “time to put Trump in a bullseye” days before the first attempt on his life.
“But only 39 days later, when he stood at the (Democratic National) convention and on national television, he said ‘the threat is still very much alive,’” Moody said. “And 25 days later, we saw another assassination attempt.”
Kamala Harris had ‘cordial and brief conversation’ with Trump after 2nd assassination attempt
Vice President Harris called former President Trump on Tuesday to convey her relief he is safe after the Republican presidential candidate survived yet another assassination attempt, the White House said.
A White House
official said the Democratic presidential nominee called Trump Tuesday afternoon to speak with him directly “to express that she is grateful he is safe.”
The official said it was a “cordial and brief conversation.”
Harris later recounted the conversation to an audience at at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in Philadelphia.
“I checked on him to see if he was OK. And I told him what I’ve said publicly – there is no place for political violence in our country. I’m in this election, this race, for many reasons, including to fight for our democracy,” Harris said. “And in a democracy, there is no place for political violence. We can have and should have healthy debates and discussions and disagreements, but not resort to violence.”
The call comes a week after the presidential candidates faced off for their first and, likely last, debate ahead of the presidential election in November.
President Biden called Trump on Monday where, according to a White House official, Biden “conveyed his relief” that Trump is safe.
Trump assassination attempt: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pushes more charges against suspect
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would like to see an attempted murder charge brought against failed Trump assassination suspect Ryan Wesley Routh, which he noted carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Routh, 58, has been charged federally with possessing a gun with a scratched-out number and with possessing a gun illegally as a felon, though more serious charges are likely pending.
“I think this is an offense that should merit life in prison, and if we are not going to go to the fullest extent of the law, you are lowering the threshold into what someone in the future may try to do something like this,” DeSantis said during a Tuesday morning press conference in West Palm Beach.
The governor assigned Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to investigate the assassination attempt against former President Trump on Sunday.
DeSantis said Florida’s Office of Statewide Prosecution may have a stronger case than the federal government.
“In my judgment, it is not in the best interest of our state or of our nation to have the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation, especially when the most serious, straightforward offense constitutes a violation of state law, not federal law,” DeSantis said at the news conference.
Read more about Gov. DeSantis pushing for more charges by Mollie Markowitz
Hillary Clinton slams Trump as a ‘danger’ to US, world after second assassination attempt
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
slammed former President Trump as a “danger” to the United States and to the world despite the Republican presidential candidate surviving yet another assassination attempt just one day prior.
In an interview with MSNBC, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate slammed the media for not having a “consistent narrative about how dangerous Trump is.”
Clinton invoked the journalist Harry Evans who, according to her, said: “journalists should try to achieve objectivity.” And by that, Clinton said, he meant, “they should cover the object.”
“Well, the object in this case is Donald Trump. His demagoguery. His danger to our country and the world. And stick with it,” Clinton said.
NY Times reporter says Trump ‘inspires’ political violence after second assassination attempt
A New York Times reporter called former President Trump an “instigator” and “inspiration” of political violence two days after he survived a second failed assassination attempt.
“Donald Trump has long been seen as an instigator of political violence,” chief White House correspondent Peter Baker says in a video posted by The Times on Tuesday. “Of course, even as Trump is blaming Democrats for their rhetoric, he isn’t giving any second thoughts to his own.”
Trump told Fox News Digital on Monday that President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ “rhetoric” calling him a “threat to Democracy” was to blame for the latest attempt on his life.
Suspect Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested after he was spotted reportedly pointing a rifle through a chain-link fence near where Trump was playing golf at Trump International Golf Club on Sunday.
Trump meets Florida deputies who helped arrest assassination attempt suspect
Former President Trump on Tuesday met with the Florida deputies who arrested the suspect accused of trying to take his life as he was golfing on Sunday.
A video posted on X by a Trump campaign spokesperson showed Trump meeting with deputies from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.
The video shows Trump entering a large room as the deputies are lined up to meet him.
“That’s good-looking stuff right there,” the former president said. “That’s good-looking human beings.”
All the deputies who apprehended Ryan Routh, 58, of Hawaii, signed the handcuffs and gave them to Trump. Routh was arrested on Interstate 95 near West Palm Beach after a possible attempt on Trump’s life at Trump International Golf Club, authorities said.
He was armed with a rifle as Trump was playing a round of golf, authorities said.
Vance on anti-Trump rhetoric: ‘They’re going to get somebody hurt’
Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, slammed Democrats for their rhetoric against former President Trump on Tuesday, saying they could “get somebody hurt.”
Vance made the comment during a campaign appearance in Sparta, Michigan. Vance and Trump have heavily criticized the Biden-Harris administration
for using extreme rhetoric in their campaign against the former president, including calling him a threat to democracy and to the nation itself.
“They need to cut that crap out or they’re going to get somebody hurt,” Vance said. “I don’t believe in trying to shut people up. I believe in debating people. But what these guys have tried to do every single time they get an opportunity, they want to throw them in prison. They want to kick them off social media. They want to do everything that they can to silence Donald Trump.”
There have been two attempts on his life in just a couple of months, Donald Trump ought to have the same detail as Joe Biden,” he added.
Trump has faced two assassination attempts since July. The latest would-be assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, is now in federal custody and faces gun charges. Secret Service agents opened fire on Routh before he could spring a trap on the former president while he was playing golf in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump meets with Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputies who arrested Ryan Routh in Florida
Former President Donald Trump met with the members of law enforcement who arrested suspect Ryan Routh on Sunday following the assassination attempt in Florida, as seen in a video posted on X by the Trump campaign’s deputy director of communications.
“Great job, thank you very much, I’m still here,” Trump could be heard telling the deputies from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office as he was shaking their hands.
Speaker Johnson talks Secret Service reforms after Trump assassination attempts: ‘Broken system’
House Speaker Mike Johnson discussed reforms to the U.S. Secret Service on Tuesday, arguing that the agency is facing more issues than just funding.
“It’s more about manpower allocation,” Johnsons said. “We don’t want to just throw money at a broken system.”
Nevertheless, he said the House is considering an interim spending bill to boost USSS funding for the time being.
Talks of reform come after two failed assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump. The first, in Butler, Pennsylvania, led to widespread criticism of the Secret Service and the resignation of ex-Director Kimberly Cheatle.
House Republicans have demanded that Trump now receive the same level of Secret Service protection as President Biden.
Trump describes assassination attempt: ‘We were on the fifth hole… and heard bullets’
Former President Trump is now speaking out about the second assassination attempt against him in recent months, telling The Washington Post that he was on the fifth hole at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sunday when shots from a Secret Service agent’s gun rang out.
“We were on the fifth hole and playing normally, like you would play a round of golf with some friends, and we heard bullets. But the bullets were from the gun of the Secret Service agent
who acted really quickly,” Trump said in an interview.
“They saw a man in bushes and the gun, and he spotted him and he spotted the barrel of the gun and he started shooting. And the end result is they captured him and they’re questioning him now. … And we had very good Secret Service. I mean, I think they did a very good job,” Trump continued.
The former president said unlike the assassination attempt earlier this summer in Butler, Pennsylvania – during which Secret Service agents rushed him off a stage at a campaign rally – the incident in Florida was “more of get-out-of-the-area thing.”
“And that would be on the golf carts — rather quick golf carts,” Trump told The Washington Post.
Trump also reiterated that “I really believe that the rhetoric from the Democrats… is making the bullets fly. And it’s very dangerous. Dangerous for them. It’s dangerous for both sides.”
Trump added that he thinks Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe is “trying very hard, but we have people out there that they’ll listen to statements made and they almost think that it’s a calling [to kill me]. But they say very bad things and they can make somebody that’s not balanced into a very severely unbalanced person. And then they lie in wait.”
Vance slams left-wing commentator for doubling down on anti-Trump rhetoric after Florida attack
Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, slammed left-wing commentator David Frum after the latter doubled down on anti-Trump rhetoric Tuesday in the wake of the second assassination attempt
against former President Donald Trump.
Frum argued that Trump and Vance are more guilty of extremist rhetoric than Democrats, stating that “the upsetting things said about Trump and Vance are true.”
“Trump really did mount a violent coup against the Constitution. He and his relatives really did take bribes in office, including from foreign governments. He really was helped into power by Russian espionage agencies. He really did steal secret documents from the US government after his election defeat. And Vance really did, and by his own admission, intentionally “create stories” for political advantage that put residents of his state at risk of physical harm,” Frum wrote on X.
Vance countered with a one-line response.
“I’d say the most important difference is that people on your team tried to kill Donald Trump twice,” he wrote.
House task force investigating Trump assassination attempt will expand to include Florida attack
The House task force investigating the attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania, will expand its scope to look at the second attempt on Trump’s life that occurred Sunday at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
A member of the task force
told Fox News said the group expects to investigate the two incidents in tandem, and they said they do not expect that doing so will extend their investigation timeline.
House lawmakers may have to update the resolution that created the task force earlier this year to include the second assassination attempt.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., blasted the Secret Service and other authorities for not securing the area around Trump ahead of the Florida attack.
The congressman wants answers on how the suspect was able to get that close to the former president and revealed that other lawmakers are already demanding more security measures.
Fox News’ Gillian Turner contributed to this report
Flint, Michigan, police chief says security ‘has been increased’ for Trump campaign event: report
The hours are counting down Tuesday to former President Donald Trump’s first campaign event since Sunday’s assassination attempt in Florida. Trump is set to hold a town hall at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan.
Flint Police Chief Terence Green told Newsweek that “we always plan for potential issues, but security has been increased following the assassination attempt.”
Green also said to the website that the Secret Service briefed local police there about the event two weeks ago.
“We’re supporting the Secret Service, but several agencies are involved since the event is in Flint,” he added.
Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Routh being held in Miami
Ryan Routh, the suspect who was arrested following the Trump assassination attempt over the weekend in West Palm Beach, Florida, is being held Tuesday at a federal prison in Miami about 60 miles south.
Records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons show that Routh, 58, is in custody at the FDC Miami, which it describes as an “administrative security federal detention center.”
The facility houses a total of 973 inmates.
Routh has been charged already in federal court with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. More charges are expected.
GOP lawmakers call for Trump to have same level of Secret Service protection as Biden
FIRST ON FOX: Republican senators are demanding the Secret Service (USSS) increase former President Donald Trump’s security following a second assassination attempt against him in just over two months.
“It is imperative that the USSS detail assigned to President Trump be afforded additional protective resources, including greater staffing capabilities that would allow agents to secure a broader perimeter,” Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., penned in a letter to Acting Director Ronald Rowe on Tuesday.
The second assassination attempt took place on Sunday at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the former president was golfing. Suspect Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested after he allegedly pushed the muzzle of an AK-47 through the chain-link fence around the course.
The Secret Service opened fire after the suspect was seen raising the firearm, and Routh fled in a black Nissan before being apprehended.
This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News’ Julia Johnson
CNN host says ‘it’s rich’ for Trump to be complaining about rhetoric: ‘Unbelievable’
CNN’s Sara Sidner scoffed at former President Trump for blaming Democratic Party rhetoric for the second attempt on his life on Tuesday, saying his unsubstantiated “eating the pets” claim against illegal immigrants during the debate has caused threats in one Ohio town.
“There’s a lot of talk about rhetoric right now, especially from Trump campaign and from Vance’s team and the Republicans. And then you hear what this rhetoric has done, their rhetoric has done to this town. It‘s rich,” Sidner said, just two days after an assassination attempt against the former president. “Unbelievable,” she added.
Schools and hospitals in Springfield have received bomb threats in recent days, which prompted closures and evacuations. The threats came after Trump and JD Vance both made unverified claims there were Haitian migrants eating dogs and cats in the town.
On Sunday, Trump said President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ “rhetoric” was what caused him to be “shot at,” following the second assassination attempt against him since July. The former president told Fox News Digital that the suspected gunman “acted” on “highly inflammatory language” of Democrats.
CNN’s Brynn Gingras joined Sidner to discuss the threats in Springfield.
“The amount of resources that it’s taking to deal with all of these threats, the governor is saying 33 bomb threats just within this last week based off of these claims which we know, of course, JD Vance has doubled down multiple times on and that is a serious amount of resources that are now needing to be moved to these schools like you just pointed out, to basically do sweeps of these schools before the kids can go in,” Gingras said.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Hanna Panreck
Walz says ‘as Donald Trump would know… gun violence has got to end’
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday during a Harris-Walz campaign stop in Georgia that “gun violence has got to end” following the latest Trump assassination attempt and the Apalachee High School shooting.
“Every child should be free to go to school without worrying about being shot dead which this state experienced the tragedy of it,” the Democratic vice presidential candidate told a crowd in Macon.
“That is not just a fact of life, and as Donald Trump would know this violence across the country has got to end. Gun violence has got to end,” Walz added. “We need a leader who is willing to take that on in every way.”
“I think it is worth noting what happened yesterday and what happened to President Trump in Florida. A horrific situation,” Walz also said during the event. “Thankful to Secret Service… law enforcement and grateful that the president is safe. And I think all of us know we don’t solve our difference in this country with violence. We condemn it in all its forms. We solve our differences at the ballot box, that’s how we get this done.”
Sen. Hawley says ‘we have got some issues here with the Secret Service’
Sen. Josh Hawley told “America’s Newsroom” on Tuesday that “clearly, we have got some issues here with the Secret Service and I think it begins at the top” following the latest assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at one of his golf courses over the weekend in Florida.
“Donald Trump plays golf frequently, he has been to this course frequently, it adjoins his residence. It’s not as if they parachuted him in somewhere where he had never been before,” said Hawley, a Republican from Missouri. “Clearly, the shooter, the would-be assassin, thought he might well be there and he was able to camp out for 12 hours and have nobody come up to him.”
“This is a lot like Crooks, the other [attempted] assassin back in Butler [Pennsylvania] who was able to get on that roof, able to take a line of sight and ultimately take shots – and nobody did anything until he started shooting the president,” Hawley added. “I mean really, this is totally unacceptable and Secret Service has got to provide some answers.”
Top Senate Democrat ‘angry’ over Biden-Harris admin ‘stonewalling’ after Trump assassination attempt
A top Senate Democrat blasted the Biden-Harris administration for “stonewalling” in response to requests for information on the assassination attempts on former President Trump and the potential failures of the U.S. Secret Service.
Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) within the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was “almost derelict in its duty by resisting our requests for documents, evidence and information that are necessary to investigate.”
The Democrat reiterated his disappointment in the department, and added that he has become “angry” that DHS has not been more “forthcoming.”
The Democrat foreshadowed potential subpoenas being used in the future, telling reporters on Monday, “We may need to require more cooperation from them. And we have the power to do so through the compulsory process. In other words, the subpoena power.”
PSI Ranking Member Ron Johnson, R-Wis., echoed Blumenthal’s characterization of the DHS and its lack of transparency, claiming, “they’re holding all their cards close to the vest.”
In fact, he said their withholding of information is “driving suspicion and driving conspiracy theories.”
As for his Democratic counterpart on the PSI and HSGAC, Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., Johnson said, “I hope they’re getting frustrated.”
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Julia Johnson
Trump suspect was ‘clearly’ influenced by Democrats’ rhetoric: Sen. Marco Rubio
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., appeared on Fox News on Tuesday to discuss the impact of rhetoric claiming former President Donald Trump is “dangerous.”
Trump has argued that extreme rhetoric from President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris has fueled the two assassination attempts against him.
Rubio said Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect in the second Trump assassination attempt, was “clearly” influenced by rhetoric coming from Democrats.
“I think if you repeatedly say someone is going to be the next Adolf Hitler, the next Mussolini, American dictator – there’s been publications that put out front page stories that depict Trump looking like Hitler. If you do these sorts of things you eventually have to conclude that the overwhelming majority of people who see that are gonna say we better vote against this guy. But there are enough lunatics and nut jobs out there who are gonna take the next step and say, well, this guy is truly evil… our system of government is going to be knocked out if this guy wins? I need to take this guy out,” Rubio said.
House task force investigating Pennsylvania Trump shooting may examine Florida assassination attempt
The House task force investigating the July shooting of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, is now looking at enrolling the Florida assassination attempt into its inquiry, Fox News has learned.
“It’s a continuation of the process that we’re already on,” one source familiar with the House’s thinking told Fox News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram. “It would be logical.”
In order to include the investigation of the Florida incident, Fox News is told that it’s possible the House may have to vote to update the resolution approved earlier this summer which originally empaneled the task force.
A shooter opened fire at Trump in Pennsylvania on July 13. The second assassination attempt happened Sunday at the Trump National Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
DeSantis assigns Trump assassination attempt case to state attorney general
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has assigned Florida Attorney General Ashely Moody to investigate the assassination attempt against former President Trump on Sunday.
DeSantis made the announcement during a Tuesday morning press conference alongside Moody.
“In addition to holding the suspect accountable, the public deserves to know the truth about how this assassination attempt came to be,” DeSantis said. He went on to argue that Florida should pursue the “most serious” possible charges against the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh.
DeSantis indicated just hours after the shooting that Florida would be conducting its own independent investigation into the incident. Federal authorities at the FBI and elsewhere are also conducting investigations.
House Republicans launched an investigation into the first assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, but it is unclear whether they will pursue a similar effort here.
Biden ripped for ‘weak’ leadership following second assassination attempt on Trump
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody told “Fox & Friends First” on Tuesday following the latest Trump assassination attempt
that President Biden is demonstrating “weak” and “inept” leadership with his handling of the incident.
“The person overseeing the Justice Department and the FBI – the investigating agency – is the President of the United States, Biden, and Kamala Harris,” Moody said.
“I think the country needs right now an understanding, a belief, a trust that this is going to be looked at closely and that those that are leading it will provide accountability and transparency to the people. We are a government of the people after all,” she continued.
Moody said Florida will look at state-level charges and evidence in the case because Trump is a Floridian.
“At best, you are seeing from this government and President Biden weak, ineffectual, inept leadership,” she said. “Of course when he was asked about this, how this could happen again, his response is I don’t know, Secret Service needs more resources, Congress should give it to them – that’s not leadership.”
This will be the ‘most consequential’ election: Rep. Mark Alford
Rep. Mark Alford, R-MO., says he is opposed to giving the Secret Service more resources, arguing the problems at the agency are more fundamental.
Alford made the comments during a Tuesday morning appearance on “Fox & Friends.” The lawmaker blamed Democrats in Congress for stalling reforms to the Department of Homeland Security.
“I firmly believe we don’t need to throw more money at the Secret Service. We need new leadership. I do believe that the Secret Service needs to be moved from Homeland Security, which has become really a political tool, I think, of this administration when you consider the biggest liar since Pinocchio is running homeland Security, Mayorkas right now. It needs to go back to Treasury,” he said.
“The problem is Schumer and his Senate shenanigans. No one over there wants to do anything. They don’t they don’t want to rein in Homeland Security. He comes to Congress in his really arrogant tone and denies the truth and outright lies. It’s time for him to go. Schumer won’t do anything about it, but he won’t do anything,” he added.
Fighters in Ukraine recall would-be Trump shooter Ryan Routh as a ‘wack job’ with ‘messiah complex’
Ryan Wesley Routh, the alleged would-be assassin of former President Trump, had tried to enlist a force of foreign fighters to help Ukraine beat back Russia, but was rejected by the volunteer force on the ground, with those involved in
Routh, 58, traveled to Ukraine
in March 2023 to help the Ukrainian war effort but was quickly dismissed as a “wack job” and “off” by other foreign fighters serving Ukraine, sources within the volunteer effort told the New York Post. the effort describing Routh as having “delusions of grandeur” and a “messiah complex,” according to reports.
“A crazy idiot, but no one’s really surprised,” said one American who spoke to the Post on condition of anonymity for fear of Russian doxxing. “There are people like that that show up and are desperate to help and be important. And he was just one of those – just on the crazier end of things.”
Evelyn Aschenbrenner, an American who served in Ukraine’s international legion, told USA Today in an interview that she also felt something was off about Routh.
“The vibe I got was a delusions of grandeur thing, like a religious zealot,” Aschenbrenner said.
When Aschenbrenner learned that Routh had been arrested Sunday after allegedly lying in wait for Trump in the brush at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., with an SKS-style rifle, she told the outlet in simple terms: “That tracks.”
Joe Concha rips Hillary Clinton for ‘sad, pathetic’ criticism of Trump
Fox News contributor Joe Concha joined ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss the potential impact of Hillary Clinton’s rhetoric and Vice President Harris’ refusal to answer questions on economic policy on Tuesday.
Concha blasted Clinton for her comments on former President Trump, saying she has been in denial of her election loss to Trump since 2016.
“It’s just so sad, so pathetic to see Hillary Clinton continue her very public psychiatric therapy tour nearly, what are we at now, 8 years after she was defeated in an election that basically every pundit says was impossible to lose. She’s still not over it,” Concha said.
Concha went on to highlight instances where Clinton declared Trump a “danger” to democracy. Trump has said that extreme rhetoric from top Democrats
caused the assassination attempts against him.
‘There’s arguably no one more threatened than Trump,’ Rep. Cory Mills says
Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., said on “Jesse Watters Primetime” that “there is arguably no one more threatened than President Trump who has now had two assassination attempts against him.”
“We should have had a bigger bubble and bigger perimeter by the Secret Service. This is two failures where the perimeter and the bubble was too small and too reduced,” Mills said about the incident Sunday at the Trump National Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“You got a rifle which can shoot out well beyond 500 yards and the president was within that 500-yard barrier. You have 150 yards from Thomas Crooks on July 13 at Butler, Pennsylvania,” Mills said. “While I applaud the Secret Service for getting involved and trying to mitigate this threat… there is arguably no one more threatened than President Trump who has now had two assassination attempts against him.
“I encourage the president to get private security… to be able to do this on the internal ring until the Secret Service can actually get answers and do the job,” Mills also said.
Sheriff recall’s Trump assassination attempt suspect’s behavior during arrest, ‘very poised’
The man accused of the second alleged assassination attempt on former President Trump was “poised” and composed when law enforcement officers closed in on him, signaling that he knew “the gig was up,” the Florida sheriff who arrested him revealed.
In an interview on “America Reports” Monday, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder praised law enforcement and credited a civilian bystander for turning over a photograph of the Black Nissan that 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh used to flee.
Minutes earlier, Secret Service agents had fired shots in Routh’s direction when they spotted him poking a rifle through the fence around Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., where the former president was playing a round of golf.
“The coordination between the Palm Beach County’s sheriff’s office which gave us the information and my road patrol deputies was flawless,” Snyder said. “Had it not been for a civilian witness who did the right thing, gave us a description and a picture of it, actually, and had the Palm Beach sheriff’s office not been so good about getting that information out, that guy would’ve gotten past us and who knows what would’ve happened next.”
Snyder described a “very tense” few minutes before authorities were able to track down the purported would-be assassin. Despite the 30 rifles drawn at him and helicopters overhead, Routh appeared oddly unbothered when law enforcement closed in, Snyder recalled.
“Right after the stop, what I saw was someone who was very poised, very in control of himself. Even though we had armed deputies all over the place, probably 30 deputies out there, rifles, a helicopter overhead, both north and southbound on I-95 shut down. He’s in the middle of it all, he never asked ‘Hey, what’s this about? When I saw that, I realized he knew what time it was,” Snyder said.
“He knew that the gig was up, and he was caught.”
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Yael Halon
Democrats facing scrutiny for anti-Trump rhetoric in wake of second assassination attempt
Several Democrat politicians have faced scrutiny for their anti-Trump rhetoric, which has intensified after the former president was the target of a second assassination attempt on Sunday amid claims from the media that his rhetoric is the reason for increased division in the United States.
Earlier this year, President Biden told donors in a private call that the media isn’t doing enough to scrutinize Trump and that it was “time to put Trump in the bullseye.” Biden, after the first assassination attempt against Trump, acknowledged it was a “mistake” to use that term.
Biden, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, have accused Trump of being a “threat to Democracy” on several occasions.
Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, who quickly apologized for the comment, said last year that Trump is so “dangerous” to Democracy that he “has to be eliminated.”
Ryan Routh kept horse in house, exhibited other ‘weird’ behavior: neighbor
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Failed Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Wesley Routh has a lengthy arrest record in Guilford County, North Carolina, where he was once a resident of Greensboro.
Routh’s arrest record in Guilford County spans between the 1980s and 2010, and his charges range from writing multiple bad checks to felony firearm possession, possession of a stolen vehicle and multiple counts of possession of a weapon of mass destruction in 2002, specifically, a “binary explosive with a 10-in[ch] detonation cord and a blasting cap.”
A neighbor who said she had known Routh for about 18 years, before he moved to Hawaii and left his Greensboro home empty at least a year ago, described his family as “weird” to reporters outside her home next to Routh’s former North Carolina residence.
“He had a horse in the house. I mean, a whole live horse in the house. But I could see the guns and stuff and all. They were … oh, I mean, kind of weird. But they didn’t bother me. I didn’t bother them,” Kim Mungo said.
“I told all my friends because they didn’t believe me,” Mungo added.
She told reporters that she confirmed a photo of Routh, who owned a business called United Roofing in Greensboro, to law enforcement on Sunday.
“It’s just crazy to me. He was a good guy. He was sweet,” Mungo said, adding that “his daughter was like” her daughter, and she would drive Routh’s daughter to school “sometimes,” though the two no longer talk.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Audrey Conklin
Former FBI special agent: ‘We can’t rely on luck anymore’
Former FBI Special Agent Maureen O’Connell told “Fox News @ Night” that “we can’t rely on luck anymore” following the second Trump assassination attempt.
“You can’t just have that interior bubble. Really good security happens in concentric circles. They should also have roaming surveillance outside, maybe some police cars, some marked units on the roads that abut the golf course or wherever the president happens to be at that time,” O’Connell said.
“We just cannot rely on luck anymore, because this type of luck never lasts,” she added.
Phone records reveal that suspect Ryan Routh may have lurked
for nearly 12 hours outside the Trump National Golf Club in West Palm Beach before his arrest on Sunday.
In July, Trump was fired at while holding a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Suspect’s possible ‘personal vendetta’ among investigators’ 4 key questions
Now that alleged would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh is in custody, the FBI and Florida police will have their hands full unraveling his planning process and what may have motivated him.
Former NYPD investigator and security expert Patrick Brosnan told Fox News Digital that investigators will need to trawl through a litany of information in the coming weeks, including “all things cellular, online shopping; phone camera images, bank records, email correspondence, recent search engine inquiries, dating app activity, identification of any possible burner phones, footage from … city streets, UPS trucks, Amazon trucks or backup cameras, and all cell tower pings within a fixed distance.”
Using this information, investigators will build Routh’s profile
to answer questions, according to Gene Petrino, a SWAT commander with nearly three decades in law enforcement and a master’s degree in security management.
The questions are did Ryan Wesley Routh act alone, what was his motive, how did he come into possession of a firearm and how did he know where to lie in wait?
DeSantis to hold press conference detailing investigation into 2nd Trump assassination attempt
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will hold a press conference later Tuesday detailing the investigation Florida authorities are launching into the second assassination attempt against former President Trump.
DeSantis confirmed on Sunday that he was directing an investigation into how a gunman, allegedly Ryan Wesley Routh, was able to come within 500 yards of Trump with a firearm.
The former president was playing a round at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, when the U.S. Secret Service opened fire on Routh, who was allegedly armed with an SKS-style rifle.
Speaking with Fox News’ Jesse Watters on Monday, the Republican governor said the people of Florida deserve to know the truth about where the suspect came from and what his motivations were.
“I don’t think it’s in the best interests of this country to say that agencies like the FBI and the DOJ – which are trying to prosecute Trump in South Florida; they’re on appeal at the 11th Circuit to reinstate an indictment that had been dismissed – that they’re the best people to … give us the truth about this, this defendant, but also prosecute the case where they don’t have as strong of jurisdictional claims.”
DeSantis said fence line of the golf course where authorities said a suspect pointed an SKS-style rifle at the Republican presidential candidate “is clearly the biggest point of vulnerability on that course.”
“If you’re burrowed into … shrubs, you have a pretty clear line of sigh on a number of golf holes,” DeSantis said.
Failed Trump assassin’s vantage point was no secret – paparazzi have staked out tree line for years
The tree line at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, has been known for years to be a vantage point for photographers looking to catch a candid glimpse of the former president and other VIPs.
Still, suspected failed assassin Ryan Wesley Routh was able to camp out there for nearly 12 hours Sunday with a rifle aimed at the course, according to a federal affidavit. He even brought snacks.
A Secret Service agent patrolling the perimeter eventually spotted the gunman and opened fire, chasing him off before anyone was hurt. But local authorities say additional perimeter patrols would be an obvious safety upgrade when Donald Trump comes to town.
Trump is known to frequent the course when staying at his Mar-a-Lago resort about 15 minutes away. And even though the visit wasn’t on the president’s schedule, anyone staking out the area could have been tipped off to his arrival by his motorcade.
“There have been previous individuals who have taken pictures of the former president while he’s golfing,” said Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for the 15th Judicial Circuit, which covers Palm Beach County. “They’ve gone through the shrubs and been able to poke a camera through the fencing. You would think that perhaps maybe they would consider someone scoping the perimeter.”
Photographers routinely announce their presence to the Secret Service and are well versed in where they can get a good line of sight, the New York Post reported. They are rarely asked to leave, an unnamed photo agency source told the paper.
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