Just over two months ago, former President Donald Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. On Sunday, law enforcement thwarted yet another attempt on Trump’s life.
Now, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are scrambling for answers on what transpired at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club and how to protect the former president and current Republican nominee.
The Secret Service engaged a gunman in an incident law enforcement is calling an assassination attempt while Trump was golfing Sunday afternoon.
The suspected gunman, identified by investigators as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, fled the scene in a Nissan SUV before law enforcement tracked him down, pulled him over, and took him into custody just north of West Palm Beach.
Routh allegedly left an AK-47-style rifle at the scene. He has been charged so far with two firearm counts: possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Routh’s political activity and background, however, are raising eyebrows on Capitol Hill.
He started a group called the International Volunteer Center that sought to coax Americans and foreign troops into fighting on behalf of Ukraine against Russia in the current war, Semafor reported.
“We need to burn the Kremlin to the ground,” one X post from Routh’s suspected social media account read, according to CNN. Another read: “I am willing to go and fight and DIE to beat Putin,” The Telegraph reported.
In a phone interview with CNN, Oleksandr Shaguri, a representative of Ukraine’s foreign legion, said that 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,” Shaguri told CNN, adding that Routh’s ideas were “delusional.”
The would-be assassin also self-published a nearly 300-page book titled “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen-Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea and the End of Humanity,” CNN reported, a work that makes the case for more U.S. involvement in conflicts overseas.
Routh also regularly published anti-Trump comments on what is believed to be his X account.
“I will be glad when you gone,” one post reads, CNN reported. Another proclaimed “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose”—a line often uttered by Vice President Kamala Harris and her presidential campaign.
“The American people want ANSWERS!” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told The Daily Signal in an exclusive email. “For President Trump’s life to be threatened not once but TWICE is absolutely unacceptable!”
The House task force empowered to investigate the first Trump assassination attempt on July 13 in Butler announced it would be briefed on the second assassination attempt in West Palm Beach.
“The task force is monitoring this attempted assassination of former President Trump in West Palm Beach this afternoon,” reads a statement from Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., the ranking member. “We have requested a briefing with the U.S. Secret Service about what happened and how security responded. We are thankful that the former president was not harmed, but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms. The task force will share updates as we learn more.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, announced that the state will carry out its own investigation into the second attempt on Trump’s life.
“The state of Florida will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at Trump International Golf Club,” DeSantis said in an X post.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., wished the former president well Sunday afternoon.
“I’m glad President Trump was unharmed, and I’m grateful that law enforcement was able to identify this individual and intervene,” Thune wrote on X. “I’m continuing to pray for the former president’s safety and security.”
Trump thanked law enforcement and the Secret Service for protecting him in a Truth Social post Sunday night. But on Monday morning, Trump posted that the rhetoric of President Joe Biden, Harris, and other Democrats led to the attempts on his life.
“Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!” Trump’s Truth Social post reads in part.
“The media’s ‘coverage’ of these two incidents is laughable,” Norman also told The Daily Signal. “It seems like everyone has already forgotten what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania.”
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, seemed to concur with Norman’s assessment of the media’s reaction to Sunday’s assassination attempt.
“Let’s be clear what is happening: For the second time in three months, someone has tried to kill President Trump, and leftist media is blaming him for it,” Lee told The Daily Signal. “This dangerous argument ‘ad Hitlerum’ Democrats have indulged in for almost a decade is ripping our country apart, and they need to stop immediately.”
Nevertheless, Norman, referring to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he remains “cautiously optimistic that the speaker’s task force will get to the bottom of this horrible political violence.”
“I am very glad that my colleague and friend Rep. [Clay] Higgins is on the task force because I trust him to ask the right questions and ensure accountability and transparency for ALL that were involved with both attempts on President Trump’s life,” Norman added in the email.
Although the Secret Service succeeded in thwarting the attempt on Trump’s life Sunday, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he has some pressing questions.
“A former president who was struck by an assassin’s bullet two months ago, and who Iran and others continue to plot against, deserves heightened security,” Johnson told The Daily Signal. “What doesn’t the Secret Service understand about that?”
This is a developing story and may be updated.
