US Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. looks on during a news conference about the attempted assassination attempt on former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office on September 16, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number at his initial court appearance on Monday. Routh, who was arrested on September 15 after an alleged abortive bid to shoot the Republican presidential candidate at his West Palm Beach golf course, is expected to face further charges at a later date. (AFP)
WEST PALM BEACH – Donald Trump on Monday blamed his election rival Kamala Harris and US President Joe Biden after he was targeted in a second apparent assassination attempt, saying their “rhetoric” about him endangering democracy is to blame.
Trump’s rapid politicization of Sunday’s incident, in which a man allegedly planned to fire on the Republican while he played golf in Florida, guaranteed that tensions ahead of the presidential election in seven weeks would continue to boil.
Both Biden and Harris have denounced the apparent assassination bid, with the president saying: “I’ve always condemned political violence. I always will.”
The suspect, identified by police as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, was arrested soon after being spotted while hiding with an assault-style rifle at the edge of Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach. US Secret Service agents opened fire, and he fled before surrendering without a struggle.
On Monday, Routh appeared in court where he was informed he was being charged with illegal firearms possession. He appeared calm and did not speak, other than to say “yes” to questions from the judge.
More charges are expected at a later date, with the FBI probing what it said “appears to be an attempted assassination.”
According to an FBI criminal complaint, Routh seems to have spent nearly 12 hours on the perimeter of the Trump golf course, based on cell phone records.
On July 13, the former president was grazed by a bullet in an attack at a Pennsylvania rally, which also saw a supporter in the crowd killed before the lone gunman was shot dead by return fire.
Trump — who was not hurt in Sunday’s event — told Fox News Digital that rhetoric from Biden and Harris “is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country.”
Trump, 78, referred to frequent comments that he poses a “threat to democracy.”
Biden and Harris have described the former president as a danger over his refusal to concede defeat to Biden in 2020 and his campaign to classify the mob of his supporters that stormed Congress in 2021 as political dissidents.
Trump — whose main election message against Harris is built on dark warnings about immigrant “invasion” and claims that the United States is a “failing nation” that only he can save — said his opponents “use highly inflammatory language.”
“I can use it too — far better than they can — but I don’t,” he added.
In a later post on his Truth Social network, Trump said “the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse,” before launching into an all-caps attack on immigrants.
Secret Service scrutiny
At the White House earlier Monday, Biden had told reporters “thank God the president is OK.”
But the Secret Service “needs more help,” he said, “and I think Congress should respond to their needs.”
The protective service came under severe criticism after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which the shooter was able to climb onto a nearby roof overlooking Trump’s rally.
As a major party candidate and former president, Trump has a sizeable security detail but smaller than that of a sitting president. This meant the bodyguards could not cordon off the entire golf course, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said, explaining how the suspect was able to get to within a few hundred yards of Trump before being intercepted.
The would-be attacker has a lengthy criminal record, and was obsessed with the Ukrainian cause. He traveled to Ukraine, claiming he wanted to volunteer and was recruiting foreign fighters to help repel Russia’s invasion.
However, there is no evidence that he ever fought there or was able to join the Ukrainian military. His social media presence indicates a wide variety of political affiliations at home.
Condemning “any form of political violence,” United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric expressed relief Monday “that the former president is safe and that law enforcement acted quickly.”
Fear of wider violence
The intensity of threats is rising as the US presidential race enters its final weeks, and polls continue to indicate a tight finish on November 5.
The latest twist follows days of tension in the Ohio town of Springfield as a result of conspiracy theories stoked by Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance about the local Haitian immigrant community.
Schools and other public institutions have been repeatedly shut down there since Thursday after receiving threats.
There are also broader worries that Trump will again refuse to concede if he loses to Harris, stoking a repeat of the violence on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed Congress to try and stop certification of Biden’s victory two months earlier.
Trump used Sunday’s incident to appeal for campaign funds, posting on social media Monday: “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!!!!!” and “Donate Today!”