Donald Trump assassination attempt: As the US presidential race enters its final weeks, an apparent second assassination attempt on Republican candidate Donald Trump has once again rocked the entire country and put the focus on the violence and upheaval that has marked this year's bid for the White House. Trump, who survived a gunshot that grazed his ear during a rally on July 13, has blamed his opponents President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) called it a second assassination attempt on the former President, the second in two months, while the latter was golfing at Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach. Authorities identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, who was arrested later in another county as he fled from the spot in an SUV, leaving behind his two backpacks, a scope used for aiming, and a GoPro camera in the vicinity. He was charged with two federal firearms charges.
Law enforcement officials said during an afternoon press conference that the gunman was in some bushes near the property line of the golf course when Secret Service agents, who were clearing holes ahead of where Trump was playing, spotted a rifle barrel in the bushes. Agents engaged the gunman and fired at least four rounds of ammunition around 1:30 pm (1730 GMT). The gunman then dropped his rifle, two backpacks and other items and fled in a black Nissan car.
Suspect waited for 12 hours, didn't have Trump in sights
Routh appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach on Monday. As per the documents filed in court, he waited outside the Florida golf course, where Trump was, for nearly 12 hours with food and a rifle with an apparent motive to assassinate the Republican candidate. Officials said he did not fire any shots, never had Trump in his line of sight and sped away after being shot at by an agent who spotted him.
Authorities did not immediately reveal any new details about Routh's background or allege a particular motive in charging documents. Investigators are also examining Routh's large online footprint, which suggests a man of evolving political viewpoints, culminating in an apparent disdain for Trump and intense outrage at global events concerning China and especially Ukraine.
Routh was charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He could face more charges. In 2002, Routh pleaded guilty in North Carolina to possession of an unregistered fully automatic gun, defined in state law as a weapon of mass destruction, according to the county district attorney's office. He was also convicted of possessing stolen goods in 2010.
What is Routh's connection to Trump?
Routh had been waiting at the golf course's tree line from 1:59 am to 2:31 pm, according to an FBI affidavit that cited cellphone data. The FBI is continuing to investigate how long the Hawaii man had been in Florida, said Jeffrey Veltri, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Miami field office. Meanwhile, voter records show he registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina in 2012, most recently voting in person during the state's Democratic primary in March.
Routh has expressed strong pro-Ukrainian statements and said he was "willing to fight and die" for Ukraine. During an interview with the New York Times, Routh also said he was seeking recruits for Ukraine from among Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban. He said he planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine.
In June 2020, he made a post on X in which he asked then-President Trump to win reelection by issuing an executive order directing the Department of Justice to prosecute police misconduct. His post suggested that he was a Trump supporter back then. In recent years, his support appears to have shifted to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. His posts have seemed to have soured on Trump.
“You are free to assassinate Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran in an apparently self-published 2023 book titled “Ukraine's Unwinnable War,” which described the former president as a “fool” and “buffoon” for both the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots and the “tremendous blunder” of leaving the Iran nuclear deal. Routh wrote that he once voted for Trump and must take part of the blame for the “child that we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless.”
(with inputs from agencies)
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