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The FBI said former President Donald Trump was the target of “what appears to be an attempted assassination ” at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, just nine weeks after the Republican presidential nominee survived another attempt on his life.
U.S. Secret Service agents opened fire on Sunday after seeing a person with a firearm near Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club in Florida while he was golfing. No injuries were reported. Officials say the person fled in an SUV and was later apprehended by local law enforcement.
The suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, was charged Monday with federal gun crimes. Additional and more serious charges are possible as the investigation continues and prosecutors seek an indictment from a grand jury.
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Others, including real estate investor Steve Witkoff — who was with Trump during Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt — and Trump’s sons are expected to talk further about crypto.
As he participated in an event on his X social media platform, Trump gave a shoutout to Elon Musk, saying the tech billionaire “endorsed me for president so strongly.”
Trump also called Musk his “friend,” commending his efforts on space travel in particular.
Musk deleted a post on X in which he said “no one is even trying to assassinate” Biden and Harris in the wake of the apparent assassination attempt on Trump.
Early Monday, after taking down the post about the apparent Trump assassination, Musk wrote on the platform: “Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X.”
Musk, who has nearly 200 million followers on the social media site he bought for $44 billion in 2022, has increasingly embraced conservative ideologies in recent years and endorsed Trump for president.
Trump also talked about his conversation with Biden, with whom he spoke earlier Monday about the apparent assassination attempt.
“He was very nice, that he called up to make sure that I was OK,” Trump said of his conversation with the president, adding that Biden also sought his input on whether “we need more people on my detail.”
Biden told reporters that the Secret Service “needs more help,” adding, “Thank God the president’s OK.”
It’s an interview about crypto, but Trump has several times pivoted to many of the issues typical of his campaign stump speeches.
Trump has talked about his views on the need to reform immigration, blaming what he sees as the country’s wrong direction on his Democratic foes, including Harris and saying there are “evil forces” at play in the U.S.
As he has repeatedly, Trump referred to the replacement of Biden with Harris atop the Democratic presidential ticket as “a coup, in the truest sense.”
Trump says the apparent attempt on his life was a “much better result” than when he was shot in July because no others were wounded or killed.
“That was some crazy day, and yesterday you had another one with a different result, actually much better result,” Trump said.
The host noted that some of Trump’s sons were in the room for the interview.
He and his friends playing golf “heard shots, being fired in the air, and I guess probably four or five.”
Trump said they got into carts “and we moved along pretty good.”
“I would have loved to have sank that last putt,” Trump said, of not being able to finish the round of golf.
Trump said an agent had seen a gun barrel “and started shooting in the bushes ... and ran toward the target.”
Trump also noted that a civilian woman in the area drove her vehicle to the back of Routh’s vehicle and took pictures of the license plate, which she then gave to authorities, who were able to track the suspect down.
Trump is participating in his first speaking appearance since the apparent assassination attempt on Sunday.
The former president is taking part in an X Space about the launch of World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform controlled by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric.
From his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, Trump commended the Secret Service for doing an “excellent job.”
Farokh, the event’s host, began by applauding Trump for not canceling his appearance.
Trump is expected to deliver remarks about cryptocurrency and the launch of World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform controlled by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric. The online event comes a day after the apparent assassination attempt against the former president.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said this second apparent assassination attempt on Trump ought to be “a moment of soul-searching for all Americans.”
McConnell said the country’s political process “has been infected by reprehensible violence.”
“In America, our democracy flows from the ballot box. Not from the barrel of a gun. Period,” McConnell said in a Senate speech.
He said the president should receive “every appropriate measure of security.”
Vance called for a reduction in heated political rhetoric a day after the former president was apparently targeted for assassination for the second time in as many months.
Vance said he would “do my part” to tone down the rhetoric. He also said Democrats cannot call Trump a “threat to democracy” and “a fascist” and expect that violence would not follow, because “some crazy person” decides “to take matters into their own hands.”
Trump has in recent weeks regularly called Democratic nominee Kamala Harris a “communist” and a “fascist” — ideologies at the opposite ends of the left-right political spectrum. He’s also said Harris and Democrats are threats to democracy.
Vance allowed that conservatives do not “always get things exactly right” in their rhetoric. But he argued that two apparent assassination attempts against Trump prove that Democrats are worse. “No one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months,” Vance said.
JD Vance told evangelical activists in a presidential battleground state that the former president and GOP nominee is the clear choice for anti-abortion voters this November.
Vance’s pitch at the Faith & Freedom Coalition gala in Georgia comes after some evangelicals, including Trump’s previous vice president, Mike Pence, expressed disappointment in the GOP removing from its 2024 platform a call for a national ban on abortion.
Trump has argued that the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning a woman’s federal right to terminate a pregnancy is enough because it steered abortion regulation back to state governments.
Vance did not explicitly acknowledge the platform language but praised Trump for nominating three Supreme Court justices who helped strike down abortion rights at the federal level. Vance promised a second Trump administration would pursue policies that help would-be mothers and new mothers, such as investments in job training, education and child care.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp put his newfound detente with Donald Trump on display Monday with a clear endorsement of the former president’s comeback bid and an aggressive takedown of Vice President Harris.
Kemp told the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Georgia Victory Dinner crowd that Trump must be returned to the Oval Office to spare the nation a Harris administration.
As Trump often does, Kemp offered a sweeping, dark view of what the Democratic nominee would do in office. He said Harris is deceiving voters by taking more moderate positions on a range of issues than she did as a California senator and candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination.
“Kamala Harris of 2020 wouldn’t even recognize the Kamala Harris of today,” Kemp said, suggesting a President Harris would ban fracking and end private health insurance. Harris has not proposed those ideas in her current campaign.
Kemp and Trump had previously been at odds since the 2020 presidential election when the Georgia governor refused to help Trump overturn his defeat at the hands of now-President Biden.
Ralph Reed, a longtime evangelical political powerhouse, is blaming Vice President Harris, other Democrats and the media for a “toxic political environment” that he says has paved the way for the apparent attempt on former President Trump’s life.
The co-founder of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, Reed used his group’s gala in Georgia on Monday night to say that criticism of Trump as a “would-be dictator” and threat to democracy is part of a pattern of “lies and smears and slurs” that have effectively given permission to “anyone with a screw loose” to think “they were doing a public service by trying to end his life.”
Reed said separately in an interview with The Associated Press that the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters still does not justify calling Trump a threat to democracy. Reed argued that the nation “still had a peaceful transfer of power” because Congress was able that day to certify Biden’s Electoral College victory and the now-president was inaugurated two weeks later.
Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, said the evidence thus far suggests that the alleged gunman seems to have shown interest in a mix of ideologies.
That’s a common quality in many who end up committing political violence and may have spent time “cherry-picking” for a way to justify those acts, Lewis said.
Lewis said Americans on both sides of the political spectrum have become “desensitized” to political violence and need to reckon with the fact that it’s now become a mainstream issue.
“The acceptance of political violence, calling for political violence, regardless of your affiliation, has no place in this country,” he said. “Full stop.”
Biden conveyed his relief that the former president is safe and the two shared a cordial conversation, according to the White House.
Trump, in a statement issued by his campaign, said, “We had a very nice call. It was about Secret Service protection.” His campaign did not offer more details about the call.
HomeAid Hawai’i, a nonprofit organization that helps homeless people find housing, said Ryan Routh offered his company’s services to help with roofing and flooring for the construction of tiny homes from 2018 to 2020.
“He was not compensated, and no complaints were recorded during his time with us under HomeAid Hawai’I’s previous leadership," Kimo Carvalho, the organization’s executive director, said Monday in a press release.
The organization has not used Routh’s services since 2020, Carvalho said.
Authorities have no information so far to suggest that the suspect in the apparent assassination attempt was acting with anyone else, an FBI official said.
Jeffrey Veltri, special agent in charge of the FBI Miami Field Office, cautioned that the investigation is still underway and that authorities are working to confirm whether Routh acted alone.
U.S. Secret Service acting director Ronald Rowe said that protective measures are working after the latest apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump.
Rowe said he spoke with the former president and that Trump is “aware that he has the highest levels of protection” from the agency. He also said agents did their jobs to the letter when they noticed a man poking a rifle through the bushes at Trump’s golf course on Sunday.
Rowe said the golf trip wasn’t on Trump’s schedule, so they put together a security plan.
“And that security plan worked out," he said.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. of the U.S. Secret Service says Routh “did not have a line of sight to the former president” and did not fire at Secret Service agents before he fled the scene.
Authorities are pursuing and executing search warrants for cell phones, a vehicle and electronics of the suspect in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, an FBI official said.
Jeffrey Veltri, special agent in charge of the FBI Miami Field Office, said authorities are interviewing witnesses on the scene as well as family members and former colleagues of Ryan Routh.
Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri says Routh has numerous felony charges for stolen goods between 1997 and 2010.
Routh was the subject of a closed investigation in 2019 when someone reported he was in possession of a firearm despite a prior felony conviction, but Veltri says the tipster would not confirm making the report.
The top FBI official in the Miami field office says authorities requested search warrants seeking access to a video recording device, cell phones, a vehicle and electronics at Routh’s previous addresses.
Investigators also collected DNA that was sent to the FBI’s lab in Quantico, Virginia, said Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri. Agents in the FBI’s Charlotte and Honolulu field offices are conducting interviews.
The FBI’s analysis of cell phone data showed Routh was around the golf course in West Palm Beach for about 12 hours before the Secret Service encountered him.
Markenzy Lapointe, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said the federal investigation into the apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on Sunday remains in its “early stages.”
“Together we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure accountability,” he told reporters.
Retired supervisory Secret Service agent Bobby McDonald, now a criminal justice lecturer at the University of New Haven, said Monday that he hopes the agency will analyze the Sunday’s events and take ownership of what went right and what went wrong — and use it to improve as it moves into the home stretch of election season.
He noted that it’s a “very busy time” for the Secret Service with the election going on, more candidates now needing protection and with preparations underway for the United Nations General Assembly. The Secret Service currently has 40 people it’s responsible for protecting fulltime. In addition to Trump and Biden, that list also includes Harris, vice presidential candidates, other former presidents and their families and others.
McDonald cautioned that it can take nine to 18 months to bring on a Secret Service staffer. The service may want to transfer more personnel from the investigative work the agency does to its protective side, McDonald said.
“There is no quick fix,” he said, noting that temporarily bringing in people from outside the agency to help can come with its own challenges because they don’t regularly do protective work.
Anthony Cangelosi, a former Secret Service agent, said the events Sunday show that there’s an obvious need for more personnel assigned to protect former President Trump.
“They could have been utilized to secure the perimeter,” he said.
He said it’s understandable that former presidents like Trump do not have the same level of protection as a sitting president. But, he said, Trump also isn’t like former presidents Obama or Clinton for example. He’s both a former president and a current nominee hoping to return to the White House.
“He’s not your typical former president,” he said.
Cangelosi, who’s currently a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, questioned whether a request had been made by anyone in the Secret Service for more personnel and if so what happened to that request? And if no requests have been made for more personnel, why not?
Without the resources to secure the entire perimeter, Cangelosi said the Secret Service did the next best thing, which was to have agents going ahead of the president to scout the next locations. He commended the work they did to spot the muzzle of the gun and open fire, saying they were vigilant. But he said there’s always a chance that they could have missed the muzzle. Extra coverage could include roving uniformed personnel outside the perimeter, for example, he said. The goal is to create a presence that serves as a deterrence.
He said the Secret Service doesn’t have the extra personnel but they can be pulled from other agencies.
President Joe Biden on Monday again decried the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and said America must work to stop the scourge of political violence.
“America has suffered too many times the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet,” Biden said at the start of an address to the National HBCU Week Conference in Philadelphia. “It solves nothing. It just tears the country apart. We must do everything we can to prevent it and never give it any oxygen.”
The president’s comments came after Trump said, without evidence, that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris inspired another apparent attempt on his life, deriding their criticism of him as a threat to democracy despite his own long history of inflammatory campaign rhetoric and advocacy for jailing or prosecuting his political enemies.
“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,” Trump said in comments to Fox News Digital.
Biden in his speech added that Acting Director Secret Service Ronald Rowe, Jr. was in Florida “assessing what happened and determining whether any further adjustments need to be made to ensure” Trump’s safety.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman says the county is dedicating a “small army” of law enforcement to handle security around Trump’s planned rally at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island on Wednesday.
“We feel very confident that we will have the assets necessary to make sure that this is safe for everyone,” Blakeman said at a news briefing Monday afternoon.
Patrick Ryder, the police commissioner in Nassau County, said “This will be the safest place in the country on that day.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland says the Justice Department will “work tirelessly to ensure accountability” in the apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.
Garland said in an emailed statement that the Justice Department will “bring every available resource to bear in this investigation.”
“We are grateful that the former President is safe,” Garland said.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s golf partner on Sunday, says the former president’s reaction to the apparent assassination attempt was “courageous and stoic.”
The real estate investor said Monday in a post on the social platform X that Trump, his “very close friend,” was “concerned about his friends first before thinking of himself,” something Witkoff said exemplified “the truest example of leadership.”
Fox News host Sean Hannity, a close friend of the former president’s, said on air Sunday that he had spoken with Trump and Witkoff, who told him that Secret Service agents “pounced on” Trump and “covered him” to protect him.
Body camera footage posted on Facebook Monday shows the arrest of the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt.
The video posted by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office shows Ryan Routh walking backward with his hands over his head on the side of a road before being handcuffed and led away by law enforcement.
Local law enforcement was still blocking the palm tree-lined road south of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, as a group of FBI agents were searching Monday near the hedge surrounding the property.
Other investigators were also in the area walking back and forth from their vehicles to the hedge.
Journalists had set up cameras near a gas station facing the property as temperatures were nearing 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Authorities are planning to give an update on their investigation.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office says it is hosting officials with the Secret Service and FBI for an update at 4 p.m. ET Monday.
Representatives from both federal agencies, along with Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, are expected to meet with members of the media at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in West Palm Beach.
The court documents also detail the charges and possible penalties Routh could face if convicted.
The charge of possessing a firearm despite a prior felony conviction carries a possible 15-year sentence, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
A second charge of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number carries a possible five-year prison sentence, a $250,000 fine and also three years supervised release.
According to court documents, Routh was stopped by officers about 45 minutes after he fled the golf course.
Officials said that Routh answered in the affirmative when officers asked him if he knew why he was being stopped. The vehicle was stopped at about 2:14 p.m. on northbound Interstate 95 in Martin County, which neighbors Palm Beach County.
Federal prosecutors’ complaint against Routh has been filed in court.
According to the complaint, cell phone records show that Routh was in the area of the golf course tree line for about 12 hours, from approximately 1:59 a.m. until 1:31 p.m. on Sunday.
The license plate on the Nissan SUV in which Routh was stopped was registered to a 2012 Ford truck that has been reported stolen, according to authorities.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says the state will be conducting its own investigation into the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life Sunday.
“I understand that the feds are involved but we do believe that there were multiple violations of state law. We also believe that there’s a need to make sure that the truth about all this comes out in a way, you know, that’s credible,” he said during a news conference Monday morning. “I mean I look at the federal government, with all due respect to them, those same agencies that are prosecuting Trump in that jurisdiction are now going to be investigating this?”
DeSantis added that while the federal government has its “prerogative,” “we have our prerogative.”
The governor said he had not yet spoken to Trump.
Ryan Wesley Routh has had his first appearance in federal court.
During an eight-minute hearing, prosecutors levied two charges against him: possessing a firearm despite a prior felony conviction and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Officials said Routh could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the first charge, and a possible five-year sentence on the second charge.
A bond hearing has been schedule for Sept. 23, and a probable cause hearing or arraignment has been set for Sept. 30, depending on whether the government secures an indictment on the charges.
During the hearing, Routh gave routine information to court officials as to his work status and income. Speaking in a soft voice, he said that he was working and making around $3,000 a month, but has zero savings.
Routh said that he has no real estate or assets, aside from two trucks worth about $1,000, both located in Hawaii.
Routh also said that he has a 25-year-old son, whom he sometimes supports.
Trump is blaming his political rivals’ rhetoric for Sunday’s apparent attempt on his life.
Trump said Monday in an interview with Fox News Digital that the accused gunman “believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it.”
The former president went on to say, “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.”
The tone was different than the one Trump adopted immediately after the Pennsylvania assassination attempt in July, when he called for unity and a cooling of the campaign’s tenor, including during his speech at the Republican National Convention.
“They use highly inflammatory language,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “I can use it too — far better than they can — but I don’t.”
Routh, the man accused of trying to shoot at Trump on Sunday, had expressed support for Trump online in as recently as 2020, but in recent years, his posts suggest he soured on him, expressing support for Biden and Harris.
The White House responded to Elon Musk’s post on X about presidential assassinations, which stirred outrage on social media.
“Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about,” said spokesperson Andrew Bates in a statement on Monday. “This rhetoric is irresponsible.”
Musk deleted his comment on Sunday, which he posted in the wake of a second alleged attempt on Donald Trump’s life. He had written “no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.”
“Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X,” Musk wrote later.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said the House will be demanding more Secret Service protection for Trump, saying he needs more attention than any other protectee.
“He’s the most attacked. He’s the most threatened, even probably more than when he was in the Oval Office,” Johnson, R-La., said on “Fox & Friends.” “We are demanding in the House that he have every asset available.”
The Republican speaker was on his way to visit Trump on Sunday when the former president was targeted while golfing. The suspect is now in custody.
Johnson and his wife, Kelly, visited with Trump afterward for about three hours, and the speaker said he was in “good spirits.”
The House’s bipartisan task force on the July assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania is monitoring the situation and has requested a briefing. Johnson said the panel was scheduled to hold a hearing later this month as it investigates the political violence.
“There’s going to be reports and recommendations coming forward, and Congress will act swiftly,” Johnson said. “We need accountability.”
Johnson said he has “no faith” in Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The House impeached Mayorkas earlier this year over the department’s handling of immigration, but the Senate declined to consider the charges in a trial.
Ryan Wesley Routh briefly entered a Florida courtroom Monday morning for his initial appearance, wearing a dark blue jail jumpsuit and his arms and legs shackled. He sat quietly for about five minutes with no visible signs of nervousness before marshals led him back out to await his hearing.
The Associated Press filmed Ryan Wesley Routh in April 2022 at a demonstration in Kyiv’s Independence Square two months after Russia invaded Ukraine.
A placard he was holding said: “We cannot tolerate corruption and evil for another 50+ years. End Russia for our kids.” He wore a blue vest with the American flag on the back, along with a scarf and T-shirt in the colors of his national flag, while participating in a small rally.
Other participants held posters drawing attention to Mariupol, which was under siege at the time and is now occupied by Russia. That same day, Routh also paid tribute to foreign citizens killed during the war near a makeshift memorial sign reading “Foreigners killed by Putin.”
Ryan Wesley Routh has never served in the Ukrainian army nor collaborated with the military in any capacity, according to Oleksandr Shahuri, a representative officer of the Foreigners Coordination Department of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command.
Over the past two-and-a-half years, Routh has periodically contacted the international legion with what Shahuri described as “nonsensical ideas.” His plans and ideas can best be described as delusional.”
Shahuri, speaking to The Associated Press, firmly denied any connection to Routh. The International Legion of Ukraine was created shortly after the outbreak of the war by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It consists of foreign citizens “wishing to join the resistance against the Russian occupants and fight for global security,” according to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry.
Zelenskyy released a statement on X regarding the apparent assassination attempt: “I am glad to hear that Donald Trump is safe and unharmed. My best wishes to him and his family. It’s good that the suspect in the assassination attempt was apprehended quickly. This is our principle: the rule of law is paramount and political violence has no place anywhere in the world. We sincerely hope that everyone remains safe.”
Trump campaign leaders are crediting the Secret Service with keeping the former president safe following an apparent assassination attempt in Florida.
In an email sent to staff Sunday evening, senior campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles wrote, “Today, for the second time in two months, an evil monster attempted to take the life of President Trump.”
“Thankfully, no one was injured at the Golf Course. President Trump and everyone accompanying him are safe thanks to the great work of the United States Secret Service,” they wrote.
They added that campaign staffers’ safety is “always our top priority” and asked those receiving the email to “remain vigilant” and “observant and maintain a constant level of situational awareness."
The leaders of a bipartisan task force in Congress that has been investigating the assassination attempt on Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July said it is monitoring the Florida situation and has requested a briefing by the Secret Service.
“We are thankful that the former President was not harmed, but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms,” said Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa. and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo. “The Task Force will share updates as we learn more.”
It was not immediately clear whether the incident would affect Trump's campaign schedule.
On Monday night, he was set to speak from Florida about cryptocurrency live on the social media site X for the launch of his sons’ crypto platform. Trump planned a town hall Tuesday in Flint, Michigan, with his former press secretary, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, followed by a rally Wednesday on New York’s Long Island.
Trump had returned to Florida this weekend from a West Coast swing that included a Friday night rally in Las Vegas and a Utah fundraiser. His campaign had not advised about any public plans for Trump on Sunday. He often spends the morning playing golf, before having lunch at the club, one of three he owns in the state.
The man who authorities say pointed a rifle with a scope into former President Donald Trump’s golf club and was arrested is Ryan Wesley Routh, three law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.
The officials identified the suspect to the AP but spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Secret Service agents shot at the suspect, who was taken into custody after fleeing the scene of what the FBI is calling an apparent attempted assassination of the Republican presidential nominee. Authorities are working to determine a motive.
— By Associated Press reporters Colleen Long, Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer, Mike Balsamo and Michael R. Sisak