Sept 16 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump was safe after the Secret Service foiled what the FBI called an apparent assassination attempt on the Republican candidate for president while he was golfing in Florida.
Several Secret Service agents fired on a gunman in bushes after he was spotted near the edge of Trump's West Palm Beach golf course, a few hundred yards from where Trump was playing on Sunday, law enforcement officials said.
The suspect was arrested after fleeing the scene in a vehicle, leaving behind two backpacks and an AK-47-style assault rifle.
The apparent attempt on Trump's life came just two months after he was grazed in the right ear when a gunman fired on him at a campaign rally. That shooter was killed in return fire by security agents.
Both incidents highlight the challenge of keeping presidential candidates safe in a febrile campaign, with just over seven weeks to go before the Nov. 5 election.
"I would like to thank everyone for your concern and well wishes - It was certainly an interesting day!," Trump said on social media late on Sunday, thanking Secret Service and police for keeping him safe.
The suspect was widely identified in U.S. media as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii. Late on Sunday, Secret Service and Homeland Security agents searched a home in Greensboro, North Carolina, which a neighbor told Reuters had belonged to Routh.
The attempted attack raises fresh questions about the level of protection for Trump, who is guarded by the Secret Service as a candidate and former president, though less stringently than a serving president.
If Trump were in office "we would have had the entire golf course surrounded," Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said during Sunday's briefing. "Because he’s not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible."
Soon after the incident, Trump sent an email to his supporters, saying: "Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!"
His election opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, said on X: "Violence has no place in America."
President Joe Biden directed his team to ensure the Secret Service has the resources it needs to ensure Trump's safety. Biden and Harris had been briefed and were relieved to know Trump was safe, the White House said in a statement.
SUPPORTER OF UKRAINE
The suspect was an outspoken supporter of Ukraine, who traveled there after Russia's invasion in 2022 and told journalists he aimed to help recruit foreign fighters to Kyiv's cause, having been rejected as too old to volunteer.
"A lot of the other conflicts are grey but this conflict is definitely black and white. This is about good versus evil," Routh said in a video interview posted by Newsweek Romania in June 2022, showing emotion as he pleaded to the camera in a shirt with American flag symbols.
"If the governments will not send their official military, then we, civilians, have to pick up the torch," said Routh, who maintained a tent in central Kyiv with flags of countries whose citizens had died in the war.
Ukraine's International Legion of foreign volunteers told Reuters Routh had "never been part of, associated with, or linked to the International Legion in any capacity".
Item 1 of 6 Secret Service and Homeland Security agents check a former home of a suspect named by news organizations as Ryan W. Routh as the FBI investigates what they said was an apparent assassination attempt in Florida on Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump, in Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S. September 15, 2024. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake
A legion official told CNN Routh had sent emails offering to recruit foreign volunteers, but Ukraine's military thought the American was "delusional".
"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,” Oleksandr Shaguri, an officer of the Foreigners Coordination Department of the Land Forces Command, told CNN.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was glad to hear Trump was safe, and that there was no place for violence in politics anywhere.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to link the attempt to Washington's support for Ukraine.
"It is not us who should be thinking, it is the U.S. intelligence services who should be thinking. In any case, playing with fire has its consequences," Peskov said when asked about the attempted assassination.
The head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, said Moscow was "using another assassination attempt on Trump against Ukraine in the information field".
"The enemy will launch a number of conspiracy theories about the ‘Ukrainian trace’. Of course, all of this is a lie."
Profiles on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn in the name of Routh contained support for Ukraine as well as statements describing Trump as a threat to U.S. democracy.
"@POTUS Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA ...make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose," said a post on X, tagging President Biden.
Reuters was not able to confirm the accounts belonged to the suspect and law enforcement agencies declined to comment. Public access to the Facebook and X profiles was removed hours after the shooting.
GUN BARREL IN BUSHES
Bradshaw said a Secret Service agent protecting Trump saw a rifle barrel poking out from bushes about 400 to 500 yards (365 to 460 meters) away from the former president as they cleared holes of potential threats ahead of his play.
Agents engaged the gunman, firing at least four rounds of ammunition around 1:30 p.m. (1730 GMT) on Sunday.
The gunman dropped his rifle and fled in a black Nissan car. The sheriff said a witness saw the gunman and managed to take photos of his car and license plate before he escaped.
Sheriff’s deputies in neighboring Martin County apprehended the suspect on I-95 about 40 miles (65 km) from the golf course.
Harris has repeatedly said that a second Trump term would threaten U.S. democracy and has vowed unwavering support for Ukraine in its struggle against Russia. Trump, asked during a debate last week whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war, said that he wanted it to end.
Reporting by Gram Slattery in Washington and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Additional reporting by Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco, California; Mike Stone, Douglas Gillison, Richard Cowan, Jason Lange and Jeff Mason in Washington; Brad Brooks in Longmont, Colorado; Helen Coster in New York; Jonathan Drake in Greensboro, North Carolina; Anastasiia Malenko in Kyiv Writing by David Lawder; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Lincoln Feast, Peter Graff and Sharon Singleton
