(The Hill) — Former President Trump on Monday offered his first recollection of what he was doing when Secret Service engaged an alleged would-be-assassin along the perimeter of his Florida golf club a day earlier.
Trump spoke with Farokh Sarmad, an influencer in the cryptocurrency world, for a Spaces event on X. It marked Trump’s first comments since the apparent assassination attempt.
The former president said he was playing golf with businessman Steve Witkoff and other friends when “all of a sudden, we heard shots being fired in the air. And I guess probably four or five, and it sounded like bullets, but what do I know about that.”
“We’re in the group and everybody just, we got into the carts, and we moved along pretty good. I was with an agent, and the agent did a fantastic job,” Trump added.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged Monday with two gun crimes after allegedly pushing the muzzle of a rifle through the fence along the perimeter of Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course in Florida while he was there, prompting a Secret Service agent to fire at him.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe told reporters Monday that Routh did not have a line of sight to the former president or fire any shots. He fled the scene and was apprehended a short time later.
“With reports of gunfire, the former president’s close protection detail immediately evacuated the president to a safe location,” Rowe said.
Trump quipped on Monday night that he “would have loved to have sank that last putt, but we decided let’s get out of it.” The former president praised the work of Secret Service, the sheriff’s office and other law enforcement on the scene.
The episode comes as the Secret Service is under intense scrutiny of its practices after the prior assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., and as various GOP voices called Monday for the agency to raise Trump’s level of security to that of President Biden.
Biden called Trump on the phone on Monday after the incident. Trump said during the Spaces conversation that Biden “couldn’t have been nicer.”
Trump added that he needs more people on his security detail, citing the size of the crowds at his campaign events.
