Former US President and Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump on Sunday survived another attempt on his life, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said after gunshots were heard outside at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida where he was playing. The former president said he was safe and well, and one person has been arrested.
In a message to his supporters, Trump said he is safe. “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL! Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!”
He returned to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach where he lives, according to a person familiar with Trump’s movements who was not authorized to discuss them publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
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The incident occurred at around 1.30 pm local time as Secret Service agents spotted a person with AK-47 near the golf course. The Secret Service agents posted a few holes up from where Trump was playing noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away. An agent opened fire and the gunman fled the spot in an SUV, dropping the rifle and leaving the firearm behind along with two backpacks, a scope used for aiming and a GoPro camera, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said. The man was later taken into custody in a neighbouring county.
The man who authorities say pointed a rifle with a scope into Trump’s golf club and was arrested is Ryan Wesley Routh, three law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.
Soon after the gunshots were heard at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump was golfing, the FBI said that it is “investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump”.
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It was the latest jarring moment in a campaign year marked by unprecedented upheaval. On July 13, Trump was shot during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a bullet grazed his ear. Eight days later, Democratic President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, giving way for Vice President Kamala Harris to become the party’s nominee.
And it was sure to add to the questions about Secret Service protective operations after the agency’s admitted failures in preventing the attempted assassination of Trump this summer.
It was not immediately clear whether the incident would affect Trump’s campaign schedule. He was set to speak from Florida about cryptocurrency live on Monday night on the social media site X for the launch of his sons’ crypto platform. He planned a town hall Tuesday in Flint, Michigan, with his former press secretary, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, followed by a rally Wednesday on New York’s Long Island, according to CBN News.
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Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, said in a post online: “I’m glad President Trump is safe. I spoke to him before the news was public and he was, amazingly, in good spirits.”
Biden and Harris were briefed and would be kept updated on the investigation. The White House said they were “relieved” to know Trump is safe.
Harris, in a statement, also said “violence has no place in America.”
Could this be a fulfilment of prophecy by Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) founder and televangelist Pat Robertson few years before his death on 8 June 2023 at age 93, when he said God told him Donald Trump will be re-elected for a second term, but there will be assassination attempts and great civil unrest.