By William J. Furney
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has lashed out at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, his rival in this year’s election, over an apparent second attempt on his life.
Suspect Ryan Routh was charged with two firearms offences in federal court in Florida on Monday after a Secret Service agent noticed a rifle sticking out of bushes at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach as the former president was playing a round on Sunday afternoon.
The agent fired in the direction of the rifle, Routh fled and was apprehended and arrested soon afterwards. Routh, 58 and from North Carolina, had managed to stalk the golf course for almost 12 hours and had brought backpacks, food and a loaded SKS semiautomatic rifle with a scope with him, prosecutors said in court on Monday.
Trump had been playing a hole prior to where Routh was hiding out and was around 500 yards, the Secret Service said. In a livestream on X, formerly Twitter, Trump said of the incident that the “Secret Service knew immediately it was bullets, and they grabbed me. We got into the carts and we moved along pretty, pretty good. I was with an agent, and the agent did a fantastic job.”
Trump, 78, narrowly escaped death when a gunman fired at him as he was giving a speech at an open-air rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. The gunman, 20-year-old Matthew Crooks, had been on a nearby rooftop and was shot dead by a Secret Service agent.
After the second apparent attempt on his life, Trump blamed what he alluded to as inflammatory talk by President Biden and Harris.
“Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!” he said on his own social network, Truth Social, on Monday.
Trump, who is neck and neck with Harris in nationwide polling ahead of the presidential election on November 5, also said last week’s debate between him and Harris, a Democrat, was unfair.
“The Rhetoric, Lies, as exemplified by the false statements made by Comrade Kamala Harris during the rigged and highly partisan ABC Debate, and all of the ridiculous lawsuits specifically designed to inflict damage on Joe’s, then Kamala’s, Political Opponent, ME, has taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust.”
Trump is facing a number of federal and state indictments in cases relating to alleged election interference and mishandling of classified government documents. Trump denies the charges. He will be sentenced just after the presidential election after being found guilty in May of paying “hush money” to silence a former adult film actress to cover up an alleged affair.
Vice President Harris said in a statement on X that she was “deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt of former President Trump” and that she “condemn[ed] political violence. We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more to violence. I am thankful that former President Trump is safe.”
President Biden, who came under fire earlier this year for “bullseye” comments he made about Trump and later said were a mistake, said on X that he was “relieved that the former President is unharmed.” He later said the Secret Service “needs more help” in protecting the Republican presidential candidate, who since the July incident now speaks behind bulletproof glass when at outdoor events.
Tech billionaire and Trump supporter Elon Musk was roundly criticised on Monday for a post on X, which he owns, saying “no one is even trying” to assassinate Biden or Harris. He quickly deleted the tweet, as the White House called it “irresponsible” rhetoric.
Earlier on Monday, Trump also hit out at the president and vice president. “[Routh] believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” he said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country, both from the inside and out.”
* Main image shows shooting suspect Ryan Routh. (File/handout)