Donald Trump on Monday blamed his election rival Kamala Harris and US President Joe Biden after being the target of what appeared to be a second assassination attempt. Trump claimed that their “rhetoric” about him endangering democracy was responsible for the attack.
The suspect, identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, was arrested after being spotted hiding with an assault-style rifle near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach. Although US Secret Service agents fired shots, Routh wasn’t hit and eventually surrendered without resistance.
Routh appeared in court on Monday, where he was charged with illegal firearms possession. He remained calm and responded briefly to questions from the judge.
The FBI has announced that it is investigating what seems to be an attempted assassination. Trump, who was unharmed in the incident, told Fox News Digital that Biden and Harris’s rhetoric was “causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country.”
Trump, 78, referred to claims that he poses a “threat to democracy.” Biden and Harris have previously criticized Trump for refusing to concede the 2020 election and for his efforts to frame the mob that stormed the Capitol in 2021 as political dissidents.
