Trump shooting attempt: Secret Service will have ‘every resource’ to protect Trump, says Biden, after apparent assassination bid – live | US news

Here is a map that shows where the incident occurred, after Secret Service agents scouting the course ahead of where Trump was playing spotted the muzzle of a firearm poking through a fence in a wooded area at the Trump International club in West Palm Beach.

The agent opened fire and the suspect fled, the Palm Beach county sheriff, Ric Bradshaw, told reporters. He said a witness took photographs of the suspect and the vehicle he drove off in, and a person was later stopped and detained on Interstate 95 by deputies in Martin county, immediately north of Palm Beach county.

The FBI, in a statement, said the agency believed it was the second attempt on Trump’s life in two months after he was injured in a shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on 13 July. A spectator was killed, two others were injured, and Secret Service snipers shot the would-be assassin dead.

Trump was immediately surrounded by security personnel and was unharmed in Sunday’s incident, which occurred about 1.30pm as he was between the 5th and 6th holes, Bradshaw said, adding that his deputies immediately sealed off the area.

Summary

News reporters were not with Trump on Sunday, the Associated Press reports. Bucking tradition, Trump’s campaign has not arranged to have a protective pool of reporters travel with him, as is standard for major party nominees and for the president. Harris does not have a protective pool at all times, but does allow reporters to travel with her for public events.

Democrats are pumping $25m into expanded voter outreach across 10 states, the Associated Press reports.

“A formidable ground game makes all the difference in close races,” DSCC Chairman Senator Gary Peters of Michigan said in a statement. “We are reaching every voter we need to win.”

The latest investment will be distributed across Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. The money will go toward efforts to defend five Democratic incumbents and open seats in Michigan, Maryland and Arizona that are currently included in Democrats’ majority, as well as efforts to unseat GOP incumbents in Florida and Texas.

Plans for the money will vary by state but will include hiring more paid field organisers and canvassers; digital organising programs targeting specific groups of voters online; texting programs; and in-person organising events targeting younger generations and nonwhite voters.

David Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, has been speaking to CNN about the arrest of the man in connection with the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

Aronberg said he was calm as he was detained, and did not speak to officers.

“He knew enough to stay silent,” Aronberg told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

A source with direct knowledge of the investigation confirmed Routh was the suspect in the case. The Guardian also spoke with Routh’s son, Oran Routh, who confirmed his father has been detained but did not provide further details.

The Associated Press has reported that on Monday, Trump will be briefed in person on the investigation into the apparent assassination attempt by acting secret service director Ronald Rowe.

Earlier CNN reported that Rowe was on his way to Florida. Rowe has held the Service’s most senior position since Kimberly Cheatle resigned in July after the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Former presidents and their spouses have secret service protection for life, but the security around former presidents varies according to threat levels and exposure, with the toughest measures typically being taken in the immediate aftermath of their leaving office.

Trump’s protective detail has been higher than some other former presidents because of his high visibility and his campaign to seek the White House again.

Trump thanks secret service and law enforcement

New York Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik has said she expects there to be a “clear explanation of what happened today in Florida”.

Stefanik has emerged this year as a major backer of Donald Trump and was reportedly in the running to be his presidential running mate, before JD Vance was named.

In a statement posted online, she thanked the “hardworking law enforcement officers working to keep President Trump, his family and his team safe”, before asking how the suspect “was allowed to get this close to President Trump”.

Security officials search suspect’s home in North Carolina

CNN also reports, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter, that Trump’s decision to play golf was taken at the last minute. The Guardian has not confirmed this independently, and the Trump campaign has not said this publicly.

Former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe said earlier on CNN that one of the big questions that remains to be answered is how the suspect knew that Trump would be playing on Sunday, adding that it may have just been luck.

He speculated that the suspect’s positioning on the golf course, “Would indicate that he knew the layout of the course,” and that it seems to show a “high degree of planning”.

CNN has spoken to a motorist who witnessed some of the aftermath of the incident, which he described as a “wild scene”.

He was on the on the I-95 interstate at the time, coming from a soccer match.

“We saw multiple officers starting to speed up behind us,” Rodriguez said.

“We saw a black Nissan speed up and merge in and out of traffic. We saw a helicopter flying in the air and many more police starting to appear. Then, a state trooper pulled over and stopped the traffic lane.”

Rodriguez said that they initially thought it was an accident.

“It was insane,” Rodriguez said. “A Nissan went blazing right by us, and multiple troopers going at least 90mph passed us, too.”

He was then stuck in traffic for two hours:

“By the end, I can say there were at least 20 patrol cars behind the Nissan,” Rodriguez said. “We waited patiently until police escorted us out of traffic. I had a pair of binoculars and saw police and several agents pointing rifles at the suspect.”

While Trump’s plans to golf Sunday were not part of any public schedule, on days he is not campaigning, he can often be found golfing at one of his courses, the Associated Press reports.

Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach, about a 10-minute drive from his Mar-a-Lago residence, is a favourite. One of three golf clubs he owns in Florida, it boasts 27 holes of championship golf, as well as event spaces. Trump often eats lunch and holds meetings in the clubhouse between rounds.

Trump had just returned from a West Coast swing that included stops in Las Vegas and Utah, and had announced on social media that he would be delivering remarks Monday from Mar-a-Lago about cryptocurrency as he launches a new crypto platform.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw noted at a briefing that because Trump is no longer in office, security protocols around the course had loosened.

“He’s not the sitting president. If he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded. But because he’s not, his security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible,” he told reporters.

Law enforcement officials praised the work of the agents assigned to protect Trump. One agent, tasked with jumping one hole ahead of the former president to scope out potential threats, managed to spot the gunman’s rifle barrel sticking out of the fence that surrounds the golf club and “immediately engaged that individual,” Bradshaw said.

In an email to campaign staff Sunday night, senior campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles credited the Secret Service for saving Trump, who has praised the agents in his own protective detail for their bravery as they rushed on stage to protect him in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The FBI’s investigation into an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Florida will be global, a law enforcement source has told CNN.

Authorities are working to obtain search warrants on social media accounts believed to be associated with Routh, the source said, and because some of Routh’s suspected online activity also involved using platforms headquartered outside the United States, the investigation will involve working with international partners.

CNN reports, “The FBI is also aware of Routh’s suspected online claims about foreign travel, the source said, which will be part of the bureau’s investigation. While early in the investigation, authorities have not identified any co-conspirators potentially targeting Trump, the source said.”

The son of the man reportedly accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course Sunday said his father had traveled to Ukraine and volunteered to provide what the son described as “humanitarian” aid to troops defending the country from Russian forces that invaded in 2022, the Guardian’s Ramon Antonio Vargas reports.

A source with direct knowledge of the investigation confirmed to the Guardian that the suspect in Sunday’s case is 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh – though law enforcement has not officially named him and there was no immediate indication of a motive.

In an interview with CNN Sunday, Oran Routh called Ryan “a loving and caring father” and an “honest hardworking man”.

The White House has released a longer statement from Kamala Harris reiterating Biden’s promise to “ensure the Secret Service has every resource, capability, and protective measure necessary to carry out its critical mission”. She says:

I am deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt of former President Trump today. As we gather the facts, I will be clear: I condemn political violence. We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.
I am thankful that former President Trump is safe. I commend the US Secret Service and law enforcement partners for their vigilance. As President Biden said, our Administration will ensure the Secret Service has every resource, capability, and protective measure necessary to carry out its critical mission.

The leaders of a congressional bipartisan task force investigating the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump said they have requested a briefing by the Secret Service.

“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,” Representative Mike Kelly, a Republican and Representative Jason Crow, a Demcorat, said in a statement. They said the task force will share updates.

US Representative Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat who is part of the task force, said he, “will seek answers about what happened today and then.”

Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham, in an interview with the New York Times, said he had spoken with Trump and the former president expressed gratitude for his Secret Service detail, adding that the president said, “These people are awesome.”

In response to a reporter’s question, officials acknowledged that because Trump is not in office, the full golf course was not cordoned off.

“If he was, we would have had the entire golf course surrounded,” Bradshaw said during Sunday’s briefing.

“Because he’s not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.”

House speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, has posted what appears to be a picture of him with Trump today – the former president and current Republican presidential candidate is wearing golf clothes.

Johnson said that he is departing Mar-a-Lago, and is “thanking God for protecting [Trump] today—once again. No leader in American history has endured more attacks and remained so strong and resilient. He is unstoppable.”

Here is Kamala Harris’s schedule for this week:

• On Monday, September 16, the Vice President will participate in a campaign meeting. This meeting in Washington, DC will be closed press.

• On Tuesday, September 17, the Vice President will return to Pennsylvania for a campaign event. This event in Philadelphia will be pooled press.

• On Wednesday, September 18, the Vice President will deliver remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 47th Annual Leadership Conference. This event in Washington, DC will be pooled press and open to pre-credentialed media.

• On Thursday, September 19, the Vice President will return to Michigan for a campaign event. This event in the metro Detroit area will be pooled press. Then, the Vice President will return to Wisconsin.

• On Friday, September 20, the Vice President will be in Wisconsin for political events. She will also participate virtually in a meeting that the President is convening with his cabinet to discuss a range of Administration priorities. The First Lady will deliver remarks.

• In the evening, the Vice President will return to Washington, DC.