Donald Trump is blaming the political rhetoric used by his 2024 election opponents for the latest assassination attempt against him, and questions are mounting about how the suspected gunman was able to get so close and stake out the former president for 12 hours.
Ryan Wesley Routh is now behind bars and facing federal gun charges, yet the FBI is still calling the incident an “apparent” assassination attempt.
Following a second attempt on Trump’s life in just two months, Monday night the former president spoke out in an interview on X.
“It was quite something, but it worked out well, and Secret Service did an excellent job, and they have the man behind bars, and hopefully he’s going to be there for a long time,” said Trump. “Dangerous person, very, very dangerous person.”
Body camera video shows officers in Florida arresting Routh who is facing gun charges in Florida, and federal charges could follow.
“We are investigating this matter as an apparent assassination attempt of former President Trump,” Jeffrey Veltri, FBI Special Agent in charge of the Miami office, told reporters Monday.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Trump blamed President Biden and Vice President Harris for their “rhetoric” as motivation for the shooter who quoted them when he posted, “Democracy is on the Ballot.”
MORE New Alleged Trump Shooter Gave to Democrats, Posted ‘Democracy Is on the Ballot and We Cannot Lose’
He pointed out that they’ve even called him a “threat to democracy.”
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump told Fox. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at…”
Questions loom about how 58-year-old Routh got within 400 yards of Trump and how he knew where he would be on the golf course.
Cellphone records show he waited in the bushes for about 12 hours. A Secret Service agent walking ahead spotted the gun barrel in the bushes and fired on Routh.
“The subject, who did not have line of sight to the former president, fled the scene,” Ronald Row Jr., Acting Director for the Secret Service, told reporters. “He did not fire or get off any shots at our agents.”
The Secret Service admits it did not check the perimeter of the course beforehand.
Former agent Tim Miller told CBN News the agency should reevaluate how it protects Trump.
“We heard that discussion the last time with Butler, that they were going to increase resources, but I hope now the resources are proportionate to what a sitting president would get,” Miller said on CBN’s Faith Nation. “That’s the only answer. They need to push out these parameters and they’re just not doing it. It’s a second attempt in two months. That’s unfathomable.”
WATCH: Former Secret Service Agent: 2nd Attempt ‘Unfathomable’, Agency Must Expand Protections for Trump
Routh has a criminal past and was convicted two decades ago of having possession of a weapon of mass destruction – an automatic machine gun.
Routh also strongly supported Ukraine in its war with Russia. He made several trips to the country, and the Wall Street Journal reports his volatile talk led one American nurse to report him to U.S. authorities as potentially dangerous.
In his interview on X, Trump said he had a nice conversation with Biden about Secret Service protection. Today he’s back on the campaign trail, heading to Michigan for a town hall.
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