Trump second assassination attempt live: Suspect Ryan Routh’s criticism of Trump before golf club shooting revealed
Suspect believed to have expressed his willingness to ‘fight and die’ in Ukraine in social media posts and once supported Republican presidential candidate before turning against him
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Donald Trump was the subject of a second apparent assassination attempt at one of his golf courses in Florida on Sunday, the FBI has said.
The former president is safe and unharmed and the bureau says it is investigating the latest security episode involving the Republican presidential nominee, just nine weeks after he survived a previous attempt on his life when he was shot in the ear by a sniper at a rally in Pennsylvania.
A man was spotted aiming an AK-47-type rifle at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf resort while concealed in shrubbery about 400 to 500 yards away from the politician when he was spotted by Secret Service agents who opened fire as he fled the scene.
He was later stopped in a Nissan SUV by police and taken into custody in a neighboring county, according to local sheriff Ric Bradshaw.
The suspect has since been named as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, who is believed to have criticised Trump on social media and expressed his willingness to “fight and die” in Ukraine, a cause in which he appears to have been intensely invested.
Investigators have since found two backpacks and a GoPro camera at the scene.
Former employee of Trump shooting suspect recalls police standoff and penchant for ‘stupid’ behavior
FBI reveals how close Trump was to golf course shooting suspect
Secret Service agent fired on suspect at Trump golf course attempting to assassinate former president
Everything we know so far about the shooting at Donald Trump’s golf club- Armed with AK-47, filming with GoPro, fleeing in Nissan: What we know about Trump shooting suspect Ryan Routh
Trump cracked jokes with allies after shots fired at his golf course, report says
Trump was playing golf on Sunday with friend Steve Witkoff and just a few of his staff present at the time of the shooting, according to The New York Times.
The former president has since joked about how he is frustrated his golf game was cut short.
Ex-White House physician and now Texas Republican Representative Ronny Jackson told the paper he spoke to Trump in the aftermath of the incident.
“I talked to him a little bit, checked on him. He told me he was always glad to hear from me but he was glad he didn’t need my services today,” Jackson told The NYT.
“I just told him he was glad he was okay and he said he can’t believe this happened.”
‘He was never part of the Legion,’ Ukrainian officer says of Trump shooting plot suspect
Oleksandr Shaguri, an officer in the Foreigners Coordination Department of the Land Forces Command in Ukraine, has told CNN this morning that Ryan Wesley Routh contacted Ukraine’s foreign legion on multiple occasions but was never part of its volunteer fighting forces.
“We can confirm this person reached out to us online multiple times,” Shaguri said, adding: “The best way to describe his messages is — delusional ideas.”
He continued: “[Routh] was offering us large numbers of recruits from different countries but it was obvious to us his offers were not realistic. We didn’t even answer, there was nothing to answer to. He was never part of the Legion and didn’t cooperate with us in any way.”
Routh expressed his support for Ukraine in numerous X posts in 2022, saying he was willing to die in the battle for its sovereignty and that “we need to burn the Kremlin to the ground”, also visiting the country that year and attempting to enlist Afghan conscripts online despite not being an official liaison to the Ukrainian government.
The BBC has meanwhile spoken to aid worker Chris Lutz, who says he encountered Routh in Kyiv: "I have met Ryan in person several times… Ryan was trying to get in contact with everyone speaking English. He was an omnipresent dude.”
Lutz described him as “a recruitment cheerleader” but added: “I wouldn’t call him crazy. He was just hyper-focused. He was trying his best to help Ukraine. But it was getting to an unhealthy level… He also had no rights or powers to recruit for Ukraine’s international legion. It was a complication.
“He asked me for advice on how to get Afghans into Ukraine. However, I had no experience of the Ukrainian legal system, so I declined the request. When he said he could bring over thousands of Afghan fighters, I started to get suspicious.”
‘Violence should have no place in any political campaign'
“It’s appalling to see political violence taking place. Violence should have no place in any political campaign,” Britain’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky News this morning in response to yesterday’s events in Florida.
“We’re all glad that the former president is safe, and that this attempt, whatever it was that happened, was not successful.”
Meanwhile, here’s Kate Devlin on UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s comments.
Starmer ‘worried’ over Trump assassination attempt as Farage condemns incident
Prime Minister said violence had no place in politics after foiled shooting at a golf club in Florida, the second in as many months
‘It was certainly an interesting day!’ Trump breaks silence over second assassination attempt at golf club
Myriam Page and Justin Rohrlich have more on the Republican presidential nominee’s reaction to yesterday’s troubling events.
Trump breaks silence over second assassination attempt at golf club
‘I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!’ the former president wrote on Truth Social
Suspect’s son: ‘It doesn’t sound like the man I know’
Ryan Routh’s son Oran had this to say to CNN earlier:
“Ryan is my father, and I don’t have any comment beyond a character profile of him as a loving and caring father, and honest, hardworking man.
“I don’t know what’s happened in Florida, and I hope things have just been blown out of proportion, because from the little I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like the man I know to do anything crazy, much less violent. He’s a good father, and a great man, and I hope you can portray him in an honest light.”
Myriam Page has more.
‘Not the man I know’: Ryan Routh ‘isn’t violent’ but does hate Trump, reveals son
Oran Routh, son of 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, said it ‘doesn’t sound like the man I know’ and that he hopes ‘things have just been blown out of proportion’
Watch: Shooting suspect in alleged Trump assassination attempt discusses ‘good versus evil’ in resurfaced interview
Suspect in Trump assassination attempt discusses ‘good versus evil’ in interview
A gunman who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump on Sunday 15 September at his golf course in Palm Beach, Florida, previously discussed “good versus evil” in a video interview. US media have identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii, citing unidentified law enforcement officials. In June 2022, he appeared in an interview with Newsweek Romania to discuss the war in Ukraine. “This conflict is definitely black and white, this is about good vs evil,” he said. Routh went on to say that the “rest of the world” needed to “stand up” for Ukraine. Republican presidential candidate Trump is safe after the Secret Service foiled what the FBI called an apparent assassination attempt.
Suspect said nothing as he was arrested, attorney reveals
Ryan Routh reportedly remained silent when he was picked up by law enforcement, according to a local state attorney.
“He knew enough to stay silent,” David Aronberg, State Attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Sunday evening.
“He did not apparently speak to officers, he was calm. So, it looked like a person who has done this before, not necessarily this crime, but someone who has had repeated interactions with law enforcement.”
Aronberg did not name the suspect but said he had a “rap sheet” and described the apparent assassination attempt as “another too close for comfort incident.”
He also praised the Secret Service for quickly spotting the alleged shooter and firing at him.
“If you’re Secret Service, it really is an act of heroism to see a person with this dangerous weapon poking through the fence. And it was really a great job by Secret Service to fire the first shot,” he said.
Here’s Cooper’s conversation with presidential historian Tim Naftali on the same show to attempt to put all of this into a broader perspective.
Trump thanks Secret Service and law enforcement for ‘incredible job'
This is the Republican presidential nominee’s most recent comment on Sunday’s events, posted on his Truth Social platform a little earlier.
In pictures: Trump golf course suspect Ryan Wesley Routh
These are the first images we have of the 58-year-old man accused of plotting to assassinate Republican presidential nominee via at attack launched from his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, which was foiled on Sunday afternoon.
Routh owns a construction company in Hawaii and has reportedly previously been critical of Trump on social media, writing to Kamala Harris in one post that she should visit those shot at Trump’s Butler rally in hospital because “Trump will never do anything for them” and telling Joe Biden: “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose” in November’s election.
Another message reportedly written by Routh is being interpreted as a renunciation of Trump after his apparently having voted for him in 2016: “While you were my choice in 2106 [sic], I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving. I will be glad when you gone.”
Here’s Tom Watling, Justin Rohrlich and Gustaf Kilander on everything we know about him so far.
Ryan Routh: Everything we know about Trump assassination suspect
Ryan Wesley Routh has been identified as the suspect captured in a black Nissan SUV on the I-95 after Secret Service agents foiled what appears to be a second assassination attempt on Donald Trump in two months
Trump sends second fundraising email after shooting
Trump sent a second fundraising email on Sunday night after the second attempt on his life within the last few months.
My resolve is only stronger after another attempt on my life!
I will never slow down.
I will never give up.
I WILL NEVER SURRENDER!
I thank God every day for having supporters like you on my side.
On November 5th, WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
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