Secret Service agents disrupted the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life in two months, but difficult questions remain on how a would-be assassin with an AK-47 rifle got within 500 yards of the former president while he was golfing and why anti-Trump vitriol in America rages on.
The Sunday incident at Trump’s golf course near Mar-A-Lago drew new calls for civility and repudiations of political violence as authorities announced they had arrested a 58-year-old man who reportedly took a deep interest in the Ukraine war and had a lengthy criminal record.
The episode also sparked new calls for investigations into the ability of the Secret Service to protect candidates, from Congress to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“The people deserve the truth about the would be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee,” DeSantis said.
Congress is already investigating significant Secret Service lapses that led to the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pa. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green said Sunday night the new episode in Florida would also have to be investigated.
“Thanks to the swift action of Secret Service agents on the ground, President Trump was unharmed today. However, new questions present themselves and we must and we will get answers,” Green, R-Tenn., posted on X.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 ranking Republican in the House, was more blunt.
“We must ask ourselves how an assassin was allowed to get this close to President Trump again? There continues to be a lack of answers for the horrific assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and we expect there to be a clear explanation of what happened today in Florida,” she wrote on X.
Authorities said a Secret Service agent disrupted the assassination attempt as he was scouting out the next hole where Trump planned to play golf at about 2 p.m. Sunday and the barrel of a gun protruding from the bushes between 400 and 500 yards from the former presidet.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the man was hiding in the bushes on the perimeter of Trump International Golf Club when the agent took action.
“He was able to spot this rifle barrel sticking out of the fence and immediately engaged that individual,” Bradshaw told a news conference.
The man fled in a car but was stopped quickly by local law enforcement without incident in nearby Martin County. The AK-47 was found near the bushes where the initial encounter occurred, authorities said.
The FBI and the Secret Service said they are investigating the incident as an assassination attempt on Trump.
Authorities had not officially identified the suspect by late Sunday evening but multiple news agencies reported that law enforcement sources identified the man as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58.
Routh reportedly lived in North Carolina for most of his life before moving to Kaaawa, Hawaii, in 2018 and he and his son operated a company building sheds, the Associated Press reported.
Routh posted on social media about the war in Ukraine and had a website on which he tried to raise money and recruit volunteers to go to the country to join the fight against the Russian invasion.
The New York Times reported its reporters interviewed Routh last year during a story on Americans seeking to join Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Routh reportedly told the paper he was trying to recruit former Afghan soldiers to fight in Ukraine.
“We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan, since it’s such a corrupt country,” he was quoted by the Times as saying last year.
NBC News reported Rouse faced as many as 100 criminal charges over the years in North Carolina, including possession of a weapon of mass destruction, a machine gun.
Routh also made a post in June 2020, on the social media platform X, suggesting then-President Trump could win reelection by issuing an executive order directing the Justice Department to prosecute police misconduct and another in support of the Democratic presidential campaign of then-U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
However, in recent years, his posts appear to have soured on Trump and expressed support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the wire service reported.
Voter registration records show he registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina in 2012, most recently voting in-person during the state’s Democratic Party primary in March 2024.
Routh also made 19 small political donations totaling $140 since 2019 using his Hawaii address to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates, according to the federal campaign finance records reviewed by the Associated Press.
Trump told his supporters he was fine and thanked Secret Service agents for their quick actions while making clear he would not recoil from the campaign trail, even after a second attempt on his life.
“My resolve is only stronger after another attempt on my life!” he wrote in an email to supporters Sunday evening. “I will never slow down. I will never give up. I WILL NEVER SURRENDER!”
Across the country, leaders on both sides of the political aisle called for an end to acrimony and political violence.
“I am relieved that the former President is unharmed. There is an active investigation into this incident as law enforcement gathers more details about what happened,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country, and I have 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.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer credited quick action from agents for saving Trump’s life and echoed Biden’s calls for more civility.
“Incredibly thankful for the brave Secret Service agents and local law enforcement members in Florida who acted swiftly today to protect President Trump,” Comer wrote on X. “While details regarding this second assassination attempt come forward, Republicans and Democrats must stand together united against extremism and political violence of any kind. There is no place for these kind of actions in our great country.”
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, expected to become the next governor of his state, urged the news media to do more to lower the temperature of political rhetoric in America.
“Our former President, and likely next President — Donald Trump — has now survived two attempts on his life. All of the vile and violence-inciting rhetoric against him and anyone else — for that matter — must end,” Morrisey wrote.
“The media has a duty to call out politicians and advocates who fan the flames of violence. As West Virginia’s next Governor, I will be a staunch advocate for free speech but will never be afraid to call out the haters who want to employ violent means to achieve their ends,” he added.
