WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump urgently needs enhanced Secret Service protection after a suspect was arrested Sunday in another apparent assassination attempt on the Republican nominee, Trump’s political supporters demanded Sunday.
The would-be assassin, identified as 58-year-old Ryan Routh of Hawaii, was detained after a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of his AK-47 style rifle through a chain link fence on the outskirts of Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach South.
The ex-president, 78, was on the course at the time. Authorities have yet to determine if the shooter squeezed off any shots at Trump.
“It is inexplicable that this happened again. President Trump needs the same, if not more, Secret Service protection than a sitting President,” Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) tweeted shortly after the attack.
“President Trump should have the same Protection as Joe Biden! PERIOD!” wrote prominent conservative commentator Leo Terrell.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw indicated that Trump’s security was lighter because he’s not the sitting commander-in-chief.
“At this level that he is at right now, he’s not the sitting president. If he was, we would have had this entire golf course around it. But because he’s not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible,” Bradshaw said.
“I would imagine that the next time he comes to a golf course, there’ll probably be a little bit more people around the perimeter. But the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done.”
A gun scope and a GoPro camera were recovered in the bushes, indicating the shooter may have intended to shoot Trump from a distance and film his actions.
Trump previously was targeted by a would-be assassin, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, on July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pa., when Crooks climbed on top of an unguarded roof just over 100 yards from Trump’s lectern at a rally. The ex-president’s ear was grazed with a bullet and a fellow rally-goer was killed.
