The assassination attempt on the Republican candidate, the second within a few weeks, poses security questions, notably on the effectiveness of the Secret Service, the elite police force in charge of his protection.
The presidential campaigns of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump continue Monday under a sign of violence after a second alleged assassination attempt on the Republican candidate, which raises questions about his security. Joe Biden called for “more help” for the Secret Service, the elite police force responsible for protecting high-profile political figures, an agency Biden says needs more personnel.
The Democratic president, who said “thank God (Donald Trump) is okay,” called on Congress to respond to these additional needs on Monday during a brief exchange with the White House press. “Getting answers to how President Trump has now faced multiple assassination attempts is a top priority,” Mike Johnson, House Speaker and close ally of the candidate, posted on X.
Limited Measures
The billionaire candidate is “not the sitting president. If he were, we would have this entire golf course surrounded. But because he’s not, his security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible,” by the Service who “did exactly what they should have done,” said Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw on Sunday. A man armed with an AK-47 rifle who had been lurking on Trump’s Florida golf course was arrested Sunday as new bomb threats were being reported in Springfield, Ohio, a small Midwestern town at the heart of conspiracies led by Republicans against immigrants.
American media identified Ryan Wesley Routh, a pro-Ukrainian American whom AFP interviewed in 2022 in Kyiv, where he had gone to support the Ukrainian people, as the alleged perpetrator of the assassination attempt. With about 59 days left until Nov. 5, this is already a campaign unlike any other in the history of American democracy. Former President Trump, 78, survived a first assassination attempt in July. Biden threw in the towel on July 21, and his vice president, Kamala Harris, 59, took over on short notice.
At the Golf Course
Donald Trump, who said he was “safe and sound,” was at his golf course early Sunday afternoon when gunshots were fired “in his vicinity,” according to his campaign team. Several Secret Service agents fired at a gunman near the edge of the course, according to law enforcement officials. A scoped AK-47 rifle was found, along with two backpacks and video recording equipment. Authorities took a man into custody after he was caught thanks to a witness who identified his car.
However, the Secret Service admitted it is “not sure right now if the individual was able to take a shot at [their] agents.” Moreover, there is no indication that the arrested man even fired toward the golf course where Trump was playing. Biden, who will leave office next Jan. 20, reiterated on Sunday that there was “no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country.”
Tense Atmosphere
Billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk was criticized after publishing, then deleting, a post on X in which he questioned why no one had tried to kill Biden or Harris, according to the American press. Harris said she was “deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt of former President Trump.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the alleged assassination attempt.
The Kremlin, on its part, viewed it as a sign of an “intensification” of the U.S. election campaign, which is unfolding in an extremely tense political and social climate. Springfield, Ohio, has been the target of unfounded rumors spread on social media for days, claiming that Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating cats, dogs and other pets. These allegations, relayed at a Trump rally, have triggered bomb threats and temporary school closures, leaving police on high alert and immigrants fearful. Today, the former president is in Florida, while his Democratic rival is in Washington.
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