Former US President Donald Trump thanked the Secret Service and local police on Sunday night after what the FBI said was an apparent assassination attempt at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“I would like to thank everyone for their concern and good wishes. It was certainly an interesting day!” Trump said on his Truth Social network. “The job was done excellently.”
Several national media, including The Associated Press, The New York Timessy Fox News Channelcited unnamed law enforcement officials who identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii. Those officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Social media posts show Routh backing Trump’s 2020 election campaign, but more recent posts express support for Biden and Harris.
Routh also repeatedly spoke about the war in Ukraine and appeared to try to recruit soldiers to help Ukraine’s war effort.
The incident, in which Trump was unharmed, came two months after he was shot in the ear during a campaign event in Pennsylvania.
Members of Trump’s security team were securing areas of the golf course where Trump was playing on Sunday when they spotted a gunman in the bushes. Secret Service agents shot the suspect, who fled the area and was later arrested.
The local sheriff said the suspect left behind an “AK-47-style rifle” with a scope, a GoPro camera and two backpacks.
“The Secret Service agent that was in the field did a fantastic job,” said Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, at a police briefing shortly afterward. “What they do is they have an agent jump a hole ahead of time to where the president was. And he was able to see this rifle barrel sticking out of the fence and immediately engage that individual, at which point the individual took off.”
US President Joe Biden said in a statement on Sunday night that he was relieved that Trump was unharmed.
“As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or any type of violence in our country, and I have directed my team to continue to ensure that the Secret Service has all the resources, capacity, and protective measures necessary to ensure the continued safety of the former President,” he said.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running against Trump in November’s presidential election, said she was “deeply disturbed by the potential assassination attempt on former President Trump.”
“As President Biden has said, our administration will ensure that the Secret Service has all the resources, capabilities, and protective measures necessary to carry out its critical mission,” Harris said in a statement.
Trump has not announced any changes to his schedule and is scheduled to speak live on X on Monday night from his Mar-a-Lago resort to launch his sons’ cryptocurrency platform.
Meanwhile, leaders of a bipartisan congressional task force investigating the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump said they have requested a briefing from the Secret Service.
[Parte del material de esta historia es de Reuters y The Associated Press]
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