Benedict Smith
US reporter
17 September 2024 1:59pm
Donald Trump has hailed a “rather quick golf cart” for helping him escape a second attempt on his life.
The 78-year-old, who was warned by the Secret Service against playing golf on his own courses, was around 300 yards from a gunman on Sunday before he was spotted by the former president’s security.
The Republican praised the Secret Service member who opened fire on the gunman, despite questions of how a would-be assassin was able to get so close to Trump two months after a bullet grazed his ear in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Asked by the Washington Post if agents jumped on him when the first shots rang out, Trump said: “No, we actually did more of get-out-of-the-area thing.
“And that would be on the golf carts – rather quick golf carts. So, in this case. But they were very protective, very good. They did a great job and tough.”
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, the suspected gunman, was arrested some 50 miles from the golf course in a black Nissan on suspicion of the assassination attempt. He was charged with federal firearms offences on Monday.
Trump’s rounds of golf have long concerned the Secret Service, who are anxious about the challenge of securing large, open areas that provide scope and cover to a marksman.
Authorities reportedly warned him about the risks of playing at his own courses soon after he became president in 2017, where photographers with long lenses frequently picture him.
Roland L Rowe, the acting head of the Secret Service, said Trump’s game of golf had been impromptu and not on his official record on Monday.
He did not clarify whether this meant his agents did not have time to sweep the course’s perimeter.
Trump said the second assassination attempt had not affected him, adding: “I try not to think about it. But people ask me that question a lot, and I try not to think about it.
”This was different from the first one… I mean, the gun was even more violent.
“And the bullets were from the Secret Service and they caught him. They caught him before anything happened. But it would have happened. I mean, he’s somebody that it would have happened.”
Although the presidential candidate blamed Kamala Harris and other political opponents for provoking the assassination attempt with “inflammatory” rhetoric, he praised the response from both parties in Congress.
“One thing I’ll say is that the investigation that’s going on is, believe it or not, it seems to be nonpartisan,” he said.
“The Democrats are just as angry about Butler and this one as the Republicans because it can happen to them.
“And they understand that and they don’t want that. And I don’t think they want it to happen to me either. But rhetorically, it’s very dangerous what they do.”
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