Two assassination attempts in two months have turned two of Former President Trump's favorite places — the rally stage and his West Palm Beach golf club — into the infamous sites of near-national nightmares.
This election year has been home to the nation's worst political violence in almost a half-century, and it's only mid-September. The danger of copy-cat wannabe assassins or another Jan. 6 is real, reports Axios.
In an ominous warning on Sunday, a Secret Service agent declared: "We live in dangerous times."
The top four Democratic leaders -- President Biden, Vice President Harris, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — each condemned political violence.
Biden said, "I have directed my team to continue to ensure that [the] Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former President's continued safety."
On Sunday, an apparent assailant armed with an AK-style gun was spotted sticking his rifle through a chain-link fence a few holes ahead of where Trump was golfing. Secret Service agents opened fire as the suspect fled, leaving behind two backpacks, the gun, a scope and a GoPro. It's unclear if the assailant fired any shots.
The suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii, was taken into custody on I-95 about 45 miles north of Trump International Golf Club.
While the FBI said it was were investigating the event as an apparent assassination attempt, the initial criminal complaint against Routh was limited to gun charges and did not include a specific charge of attempted assassination or any violent offense.
Routh portrayed himself online as a man who built housing for homeless people in Hawaii, tried to recruit fighters for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia and described his support and then disdain for Trump — even urging Iran to kill him, the Associated Press reports.
“You are free to assassinate Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran in an apparently self-published book in 2023, “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” which described the former president as a “fool” and “buffoon” for both the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and the “tremendous blunder” of leaving the Iran nuclear deal.
Both scenes of the recent assassination attempts posed massive protection challenges for the Secret Service, which is already facing fresh questions about its ability to protect Trump. There are several areas around the club's fence line where Trump would be visible while golfing.
Both presidential candidates started speaking enclosed behind bulletproof glass at outdoor rallies after Trump was shot in July.
Expect the Secret Service to face more intense questioning about its ability to safeguard Trump — and all others under its protection. The bipartisan House committee investigating the last assassination attempt is already seeking a briefing.
An internal Secret Service investigation confirmed security breakdowns that led the way for the earlier attempted assassination. Agents never directed local police to secure the roof of the building used by the gunman had what the Washington Post calls "an alarmingly slipshod strategy to block a potential shooter from having a clear sight of" Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pa.
Agents discussed possibly using heavy equipment and flags to create a visual impediment between the Agr International building and the rally stage. Supervisors found cranes, trucks and flags were not deployed to block the line of sight from that roof. Thomas Crooks was able to climb the building and open fire on Trump, wounding his ear, critically injuring two other people and killing one spectator before being fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper.
The Butler investigation found major weaknesses in the Secret Service’s communication system for events where political candidates appear. Unlike the robust communication system for appearances by the president or vice president, supported by the military, the Secret Service uses a command post for communications that is separate from local police
The fact that police saw a suspicious man before Trump’s arrival at the Pennsylvania rally was not broadcast widely on Secret Service radio. Instead, local counter snipers were instructed to text a photo of the man — who was behaving oddly near the Agr building and carrying a range finder — to just one Secret Service official, limiting the agency’s awareness of a man who turned out to be the gunman.
The report found the Secret Service was slow to beef up security for Trump as he began campaigning, even after the agency had intelligence indicating that there was an Iranian state plot to kill or harm political candidates. The agency now co-locates Secret Service agents and local police in the same command center for public appearances of the presidential candidates.