A second attempt on Former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump’s life has been thwarted by the Secret Service. While President Trump was golfing on a course of his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, his Secret Service agents spotted a rifle barrel sticking out a fence nearby. The agents opened fire. While they missed the suspect, the incoming fire drove him away.
The suspect was soon afterwards apprehended by local law enforcement on the I-95 highway as he was trying to flee. The FBI has referred to the incident as an ‘apparent assassination attempt’.
The man in custody suspected of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump is Ryan Wesley Routh. The 58-year-old man owns a construction business in Hawaii and has criticized President Trump on his social media multiple times.
One issue that was particularly of interest to the suspect is the Russo-Ukrainian War. He even tried to recruit foreign volunteers to the Ukrainian Army through social media. Based on that, it is likely President Trump’s vow to end the war in Ukraine even before he takes office if elected was the primary motivation of the would-be killer.
The Trump campaign put out a statement shortly after the incident that President Trump ‘is safe following gunshots in his vicinity’. President Trump has taken to his own social media site Truth Social to make his own comments on the incident.
‘I would like to thank everyone for your concern and well-wishes—it was certainly an interesting day! Most importantly, I would like to thank the U.S. Secret Service, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and his Office of brave and dedicated Patriots, and, all of Law Enforcement, for the incredible job done today at Trump International in keeping me, as the 45th President of the United States, and the Republican Nominee in the upcoming Presidential Election, SAFE. THE JOB DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!,’ he wrote.
‘President Trump’s vow to end the war in Ukraine even before he takes office if elected was probably the primary motivation of the would-be killer’
His opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris posted to her X (Twitter) page, condemning the attack.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary posted the following to X: ‘It is clear that President Trump’s life is in danger, until his victory. We are praying for you, Mr. President!’
Amazingly, this was the second assassination attempt Donald Trump has survived in a little over two months. On 13 July, during his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from nearby Bethel Park, Pennsylvania climbed on top of a building near the stage and took several shots at President Trump with his rifle. He killed one attendee and hit President Trump in the ear, narrowly missing his head, which almost certainly would have been fatal. The former POTUS raised his fist in defiance while being escorted off stage by Secret Service agents, which became one of the most iconic photos ever taken in American history.
Needless to say, it is unprecedented to have a US presidential candidate survive two assassination attempts in one election cycle.
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