An email to campaign staff urged vigilance about security as the golf course episode raised new concerns.
Donald Trump sought to rally his supporters Sunday with news of a possible second attempt on his life, blasting out a campaign fundraising appeal that said “there are people in this world who will do whatever it takes to stop us,” as his advisers urged campaign staff to be “vigilant” about security.
Trump was golfing at his West Palm Beach, Fla., club on Sunday when a Secret Service agent spotted a man holding a rifle with a scope in the tree line, officials said. Secret Service opened fire, and the suspect was eventually apprehended. The FBI is investigating the incident as a possible assassination attempt. The suspect — identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, according to multiple law enforcement officials — has written critically about Trump, but authorities have shared little publicly about him or his possible motive.
Trump was uninjured, according to his campaign. But the episode renewed questions about Trump’s safety.
The Secret Service is probing breakdowns in security that allowed a gunman to fire from a nearby rooftop at a July 13 Trump rally in Butler, Pa., killing an audience member and leaving Trump bloodied when a bullet or fragment grazed his right ear. Investigators have not pinpointed what drove the now-deceased shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who had pictures of both President Joe Biden and Trump on his phone and did not show signs of a political motive.
“[We] must ask ourselves how an assassin was allowed to get this close to President Trump again?” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said in a statement. “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 in Florida.”
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.) called on the Secret Service to tell Congress “what resources are needed to expand the protective perimeter” around Trump and urged his colleagues to “allocate it in a bipartisan vote the same day.”
