US election: What to know about the possible assassination attempt at Donald Trump’s golf course

Donald Trump has been the target of a second assassination attempt. Photo / Getty Images

A man was charged Monday with two gun-related crimes after he allegedly pointed a rifle toward a golf course where Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was playing in West Palm Beach, Florida. The incident is being investigated by the FBI as another potential assassination attempt against the former President. Trump was not harmed and is expected to meet on Monday with the acting director of the Secret Service. The White House said President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had been briefed about the incident. Harris said that she was “thankful that former President Trump is safe”. Here’s what to know:

The facts

• A Secret Service agent was securing the area ahead of where Trump was playing around 1.30pm when the agent noticed a rifle muzzle poking through the tree-lined chain-link fence surrounding the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.
• The agent opened fire, and a man fled the scene in a black Nissan, leaving a rifle, two bags and a camera behind. A suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was taken into custody Sunday, according to law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to confirm his identity. (Authorities have not publicly released the suspect’s name.)
• There was no immediate evidence that the man fired any shots or whether the only shots were fired by the Secret Service, but the FBI said it is investigating.
• Local authorities said they recovered an “AK-47-style rifle” at the scene, but a firearms expert told The Washington Post the gun more closely resembled an SKS-type rifle.
• It was the second time in as many months that a man had a high-powered rifle within range of Trump. The former President was injured after Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Crooks was killed.
• Palm Beach County officials said the golf course was not fully cordoned off because Trump receives less security as a former president and candidate than he did as a sitting president. If he were in office, “we would have had the entire golf course surrounded,” Bradshaw said. “Because he’s not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.”
• Law enforcement officials also credited a witness for helping locate the suspect. The witness took a photograph of the vehicle in which the man fled that included the licence plate, making it easier to find, Bradshaw said. The vehicle was pulled over, and the suspect was detained by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

The suspect

During his first appearance at a West Palm Beach federal courthouse, Routh, the suspect, was charged Monday with two gun-related crimes: possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

No motive has been determined for Sunday’s incident.

Routh appears to have led a life in search of a purpose, The Washington Post reported.

In recent years, he travelled to Ukraine and once aspired to recruit an army of international volunteers to aid Kyiv. He seems to have grown disillusioned, apparently writing a book about Ukraine’s “unwinnable war” and the “fatal flaw of democracy”.

Past interviews have surfaced of Routh claiming to have worked with a unit of foreign nationals fighting for Ukraine. However, the group has denied any formal connection with him.

“American citizen Ryan Routh has never served in the International Legion of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, has no relation to the unit,” the unit of Ukraine’s ground forces wrote in a statement. “Rumours disseminated in certain media are not true.”

Public records show Routh lived most recently in Kaaawa, on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. No one answered when a Washington Post reporter called a number associated with the address.

Public records viewed by The Post also show that Routh, originally from North Carolina, faced criminal charges for two incidents in 2002 for possession of a weapon of mass destruction.

According to North Carolina’s State Board of Elections, Routh registered in 2012 as an unaffiliated voter at an address listed in Greensboro. In March, voting records show, he voted in person in Guilford County in the Democratic primary.

Reactions

Trump said in a fundraising email: “I AM SAFE AND WELL! Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!”

Senator JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, wrote on X that he spoke with the former President before the news became public and that “he was, amazingly, in good spirits”.

“Still much we don’t know, but I’ll be hugging my kids extra tight tonight and saying a prayer of gratitude,” Vance wrote.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said on social media that he and his wife spent several hours with Trump at his nearby Mar-a-Lago resort after the incident. “No leader in American history has endured more attacks and remained so strong and resilient. He is unstoppable,” Johnson wrote on X.

Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee locked in a tight race with Trump, said in a statement that she was “deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt”.

“As we gather the facts, I will be clear: I condemn political violence. We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence,” she said.

Her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, wrote on X that he and his wife are glad Trump is safe. “Violence has no place in our country. It’s not who we are as a nation,” Walz said.

What’s next?

Protecting Trump has long proved a challenge for the Secret Service.

He routinely holds large campaign rallies and socialises with scores of people at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, and other resorts. Golf courses are especially fraught because they are often open to the public.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on X that his state “will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination”.

Last month, the Secret Service approved the use of bulletproof glass to shield the Republican nominee at outdoor rallies, a security measure usually provided only for presidents and vice-presidents.

In a statement, Biden said he “directed my team to continue to ensure that Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former president’s continued safety”.

“As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country,” he said.