Biden says Secret Service ‘needs more help’ after second Trump assassination attempt
Joe Biden called for the allocation of more resources to the Secret Service after Donald Trump was again targeted, unsuccessfully, by an assassin yesterday.
“The Service needs more help,” Biden told reporters as he departed the White House for Wilmington, Delaware.
Key events
Here’s video of Joe Biden’s remarks on the Secret Service’s needs as he departed the White House:
“Thank God the President’s OK … One thing I want to make clear, the Secret Service needs more help. I think Congress should respond to their needs. … I think they need some more personnel.”
– Pres. Biden on second Trump assassination attempt pic.twitter.com/FcBU63mx8o
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) September 16, 2024
After calling for more “help” for the Secret Service, Joe Biden said: “Congress should respond to their need.”
“They may decide whether they need more personnel or not,” the president added.
He also said this of Donald Trump: “Thank God the president is OK.”
Joe Biden is not alone in calling for the Secret Service to be beefed up in response to the two attempted assassinations of Donald Trump.
Democratic congressman Ro Khanna made a similar demand following the shooting in Florida yesterday:
Two assassination attempts in 60 days on a former President & the Republican nominee is unacceptable. The Secret Service must come to Congress tomorrow, tell us what resources are needed to expand the protective perimeter, & lets allocate it in a bipartisan vote the same day.
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) September 16, 2024
Biden says Secret Service ‘needs more help’ after second Trump assassination attempt
Joe Biden called for the allocation of more resources to the Secret Service after Donald Trump was again targeted, unsuccessfully, by an assassin yesterday.
“The Service needs more help,” Biden told reporters as he departed the White House for Wilmington, Delaware.
Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, will be in Florida “indefinitely” as the investigation into yesterday’s attempted assassination of Donald Trump continues, CNN reports:
Acting US Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe plans to remain in Florida “indefinitely” as the investigation into an apparent second assassination attempt of Trump plays out, per spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi. @ZcohenCNN
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) September 16, 2024
Rowe became the agency’s head in late July, after director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the wake of the assassination attempt targeting Trump in Pennsylvania:
Kamala Harris is not scheduled to make any public appearances today.
She’s in Washington, DC, with a campaign meeting scheduled for the afternoon, but the press are not invited to that.
Joe Biden will be out and about, flying to Wilmington, Delaware, in the morning and staying for a few hours. The White House did not say what he will be doing there, but the city is the headquarters of Harris’s re-election campaign (which was once upon a time Biden’s re-election campaign).
The president then goes to Philadelphia, where he will speak at 2.30pm at a conference of historically Black colleges and universities, before returning to the White House.
Harris says ‘deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt’ on Trump
In a brief statement released yesterday evening, Kamala Harris, the vice-president who is competing for the presidency against Donald Trump in the November election, condemned the “possible assassination attempt” against him:
I am deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt of former President Trump today. As we gather the facts, I will be clear: I condemn political violence. We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.
I am thankful that former President Trump is safe. I commend the US Secret Service and law enforcement partners for their vigilance. As President Biden said, our administration will ensure the Secret Service has every resource, capability, and protective measure necessary to carry out its critical mission.
Voter records show the suspect Ryan Wesley Routh 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. Federal campaign finance records show Routh made 19 small political donations totaling $140 since 2019 using his Hawaii address to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates.
Records show that while living in Greensboro, North Carolina, Routh had multiple run-ins with law enforcement. Associated Press reports a News & Record story from 2002 says a man with the same name was arrested after a three-hour standoff with police. The story says he was pulled over during a traffic stop, put his hand on a gun and barricaded himself inside a roofing business. He owned the roofing company, according to state incorporation filings.
Routh, 58, lived in North Carolina for most of his life before moving in 2018 to Kaaawa, Hawaii, where he and his son operated a company building sheds, according to an archived version of the webpage for the business.
Trump to meet with acting secret service director – report
The Washington Post, citing a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity, that Donald Trump plans to meet with the acting director of the secret service Ronald Rowe Jr on Monday.
A law enforcement source has told CNN that they “expect a federal court in South Florida will require ‘a mental health assessment’ of Ryan Wesley Routh before any possible criminal proceedings”.
Netanyahu and Orbán send well wishes to Trump
Several prominent foreign leaders have commented on what appears to have been an assassination attempt on Donald Trump yesterday.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that he and his wife were “shocked” by the news and “relieved to hear” the bid had failed. “But we should not rely on luck,” he said. He said he hoped that “all measures will be taken to ensure that such deadly attacks on a candidate for the US presidency will be foiled in advance”.
In Hungary, Viktor Orbán, has posted to social media to say: “It is clear that President Trump’s life is in danger, until his victory. We are praying for you, Mr President!”
More pictures have emerged of the suspected gunman Ryan Wesley Routh during his visit to Kyiv during 2022, where he was campaigning to increase support for Ukraine’s war effort against Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country.
Starmer ‘deeply troubled’ by shooting and condemns political violence
The UK prime minister, who was recently in Washington to meet president Joe Biden, has said he was “very worried” about the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump in West Palm Beach yesterday afternoon.
Speaking to the media during a visit to Rome, Keir Starmer added:
Obviously, there’s now an investigation going on so I won’t say much more about the details, but I think it is really important that we’re all very, very clear that violence has no part to play at all in any political process. So, deeply troubled. Let the investigation take its place. But absolute clarity: violence, no place in political discussion at all, anywhere.
Although the suspected gunman Ryan Wesley Routh was much farther away from the former president, from his vantage point at the golf course, than the man who shot Trump in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July, law enforcement officials found a scope on the gun with the belongings abandoned at the fence when the man fled that would have brought Trump well within range.
Routh was described in various reports as a construction worker previously working in North Carolina. He was strong opponent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine who had tried to recruit overseas volunteers to fight for Ukraine.
Martin county sheriff, William Snyder, said that the suspect did not display much emotion when police apprehended him as he was driving away from the scene.
“He never asked, ‘What is this about?’ Obviously, law enforcement with long rifles, blue lights, a lot going on. He never questioned it,” AP reports Snyder said.
Earlier an official from Ukraine’s foreign legion described suspected gunman’s Ryan Wesley Routh approaches to them as “delusional ideas”.
A spokesperson for the Ukraine’s International Legion of foreign volunteers has confirmed to Reuters it had no formal links with Routh. They said “We would like to clarify that Ryan Wesley Routh has never been part of, associated with, or linked to the International Legion in any capacity. Any claims or suggestions indicating otherwise are entirely inaccurate.”
Putin spokesperson says ‘playing with fire has its consequences’ after shooting suspect revealed Ukraine supporter
Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has suggested that what appears to have been an assassination attempt against Donald Trump by a vocal supporter of Ukraine’s cause shows “playing with fire has its consequences”.
Asked what he thought about the events on Sunday afternoon, Peskov said “It is not us who should be thinking, it is the US intelligence services who should be thinking. In any case, playing with fire has its consequences.”
The suspect arrested, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, had visited Ukraine since the war began attempting to drum up support from the west.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier said he was glad that Trump remained “safe and unharmed.”
Putin’s Russia mounted a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, having unilaterally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, in a move widely recognised by the international community as illegal.
This map shows where the attempted assassination bid occurred, at Trump International Golf Club, and its proximity to I-95, where the suspect was apprehended.
Suspect was 400-500 yards from Trump as he played golf, sheriff says
If you missed it, here is some video of the press conference given by Palm Beach county sheriff Ric Bradshaw said a man was taken into custody after an apparent attempted assassination attempt of Donald Trump at his Florida golf course. Bradshaw said a man was about 400 to 500 yards away from Trump and hidden in shrubbery – while the former president played golf on a nearby hole – and had an AK-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks hanging on a fence and a GoPro camera.
The suspect has been identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, aged 58, a source with direct knowledge of the investigation has told the Guardian. The same name was reported by other US media outlets including the Associated Press, Fox news and CNN. Law enforcement officials have not officially named a suspect or given any immediate indication of a motive.
This screengrab shows Ryan Wesley Routh speaking during an interview at a rally in central Kyiv on 27 April 2022. Photograph: AFPTV/AFP/Getty Images
Secret service and homeland security agents searched a former home of the suspect. The Guardian’s Ramon Antonio Vargas has spoken to the suspect’s son Oran.
Welcome and opening summary …
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Questions will be asked again about the security arrangements around Donald Trump after it appeared he was the victim of a second assassination bid in the space of two months
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Security forces apprehended a suspect after a gun barrel was spotted in the bushes of Trump International golf course in West Palm Beach ahead of where the former president was playing. The suspect had fled after security forces opened fire. An AK-47 style assault rifle and scope were recovered from the scene. The FBI called the incident “what appears to be an attempted assassination of the former president”
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In a late night post on his Truth Social account, Trump thanked the secret service and other law enforcement for their “incredible job” of keeping him safe. After stating that it had been an “interesting day”, Trump went on to further commend law enforcement officials: “THE JOB DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”
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Trump’s running mate in the presidential election, US senator JD Vance, said he spoke to Trump after the shooting and that the former president was in good spirits
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Palm Beach county sheriff, Ric Bradshaw told reporters a witness took photographs of the suspect and the vehicle he drove off in, and a person was later stopped and detained on Interstate 95 by deputies in Martin county, immediately north of Palm Beach county
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A source with direct knowledge of the investigation has told the Guardian the suspected gunman is 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, a vocal supporter of Ukraine’s war efforts, who had contacted Ukraine’s military in an attempt to supply foreign mercenaries for their cause in what an official from Ukraine’s foreign legion described as “delusional ideas”. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he is glad that Trump is “safe and unharmed”
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Trump campaign co-managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles have described the suspected gunman as “an evil monster”
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Joe Biden released a statement on Sunday evening, expressing concern about the incident, saying “I have been briefed by my team regarding what federal law enforcement is investigating as a possible assassination attempt of former president Trump today. A suspect is in custody, and I commend the work of the secret service and their law enforcement partners for their vigilance and their efforts to keep the former president and those around him safe. I am relieved that the former president is unharmed. As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country”
