FBI investigates attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Florida
In a press conference, officials confirmed that the shooter was arrested after attempting an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s golf course.
WASHINGTON – The Secret Service deployed a heightened presence near former President Donald Trump on Sunday as he played golf, thwarting a suspected assassination attempt after an agent spotted a rifle through the bushes ahead of him.
Experts said agents in West Palm Beach appeared to be handling the situation two months after the Secret Service came under heavy criticism for an earlier assassination attempt in which a gunman with an AR-style rifle shot the Republican candidate from about 150 yards away.
But the recent incident at one of Trump’s Florida golf clubs underscores the difficulty of protecting a presidential candidate who enjoys being in the public eye — which includes playing on the golf course and holding outdoor rallies, these experts told USA TODAY.
“In general, even with a sitting president, they will proceed in the same way that they did here,” said AT Smith, who served as deputy director of the Secret Service from 2012 to 2015.
That means agents must do their best to accommodate the other golfers, Smith said, while also discreetly scanning the grounds for potential threats as Trump and his group continue to play.
“You wouldn’t necessarily close the whole route. You would basically do what they did today, which is probably go in beforehand and search the route to some degree and then create this kind of mobile bubble around the person being protected, in this case Trump,” Smith told USA TODAY.
More: Trump assassination attempt in Florida: Who is the suspect Ryan Routh?
According to Secret Service protocol, the bubble would then move with Trump, covering an area of three to five holes in front of and behind him, using high-tech equipment to detect any sign of a possible attacker, Smith said. “They obviously move in front of him and then with him as he moves along.”
We do “the same thing we’ve always done”
Like Smith, former Secret Service Director John Magaw warned that much more would be learned about the incident in the coming days, including whether agents used drones to monitor the golf course. Both questioned how the suspect was able to get a rifle – reportedly with a scope – within just 400 yards of Trump while he was playing golf at his Trump International Golf Course.
But Magaw also said it appears the Secret Service is following protocol, especially for someone like Trump, who as a presidential candidate is not entitled to the full protections he was afforded during his presidency.
“It looks like we’ve been doing the same thing we’ve been doing all along,” Magaw said. “They’re one hole ahead of him, looking for threats in bushes and all forest areas.”
Questions since the assassination attempt on Trump on July 13
Doubts about the Secret Service’s ability to protect Trump and other wards have intensified since the Republican candidate was shot by an assassin at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Trump was injured in the right ear, one participant in the demonstration was killed and two others were injured in the attack. Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle resigned and the agency promised to strengthen security measures so that none of the several dozen people it protects are put in such danger again.
On Sunday, a source familiar with the ongoing investigation said it could not immediately be determined whether the suspect was able to fire a shot before Secret Service agents shot him, but that this is being investigated as part of the ongoing investigation.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Secret Service operational details, said the agency did indeed deploy increased security forces on Sunday as part of its broader efforts to bolster protection for Trump following the first assassination attempt.
In that case, a U.S. Secret Service agent standing in front of Trump as he played golf saw what appeared to be the barrel of a gun, officials said at an afternoon press conference. Then, shortly before 2 p.m., agents shot a suspect near the property line.
More: What went wrong? How could the Secret Service allow the shooter to get so close to Trump?
Officers found an AK-47 rifle, a scope, a backpack and a GoPro camera at the scene, officials said. Trump was about 350 to 450 yards away from the suspected attacker, officials said.
“Quite out of sight” due to the golf course bushes
The suspect, Ryan Routh, was arrested shortly afterward, said Palm Beach County Attorney David Aronberg. The FBI subsequently said in a statement that it was investigating “an apparent assassination attempt” against Trump.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw praised the agency for its response on Sunday, saying, “The Secret Service did exactly what they should have done. They provided exactly the protection that should have been provided and their agent did a fantastic job in identifying the suspect.”
However, Bradshaw also said that the agency had less protection for Trump on the golf course because he is a former president and not a sitting president. In addition, the agents were hampered by the fact that “the golf course is surrounded by bushes.”
“So if someone gets into the bushes, they’re basically out of sight, and at the elevation they’re at right now, they’re not undefined,” Bradshaw said at the press conference. “If they were, we would have the entire golf course surrounded.”
“But because he doesn’t do that, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service thinks are possible,” Bradshaw said. “So I would imagine that the next time he comes to the golf course, there will probably be a few more people around the property.”
California Democrat Ro Khanna said on X that the incident raised troubling questions about the Secret Service’s ability to protect Trump.
“Two assassination attempts in 60 days against a former president and the Republican nominee is unacceptable,” Khanna wrote. “The Secret Service must come before Congress tomorrow, tell us what resources we need to expand the scope of protections, and we must vote on it in a bipartisan vote that same day.”
