Former President Donald Trump on Monday recounted the harrowing moment he heard “four or five” gunshots ring out during a golf outing in West Palm Beach, Fla., and praised Secret Service agents for thwarting the second assassination attempt against him in as many months.
“It was quite something,” the Republican nominee for president said of the latest attempt on his life, during an X Spaces interview. “But it worked out well, and Secret Service did an excellent job, and they have the man behind bars, and hopefully he’s going to be there for a long time.”
“Dangerous person – very, very dangerous person,” Trump said of the alleged would-be assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh.
Trump, 78, detailed the moment he heard Secret Service agents ahead of him on the golf course open fire on the suspect, who was hiding in the bushes surrounding Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach.
“So I was playing golf with some of my friends on Sunday morning – very peaceful, very beautiful weather,” Trump said. “Everything was beautiful, nice place to be, and all of a sudden we heard shots being fired in the air … I guess probably four or five”
“It sounded like bullets, but what do I know about that,” Trump, who was grazed by a bullet during a July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., said of the sounds he was hearing.
“Secret Service knew immediately it was bullets, and they grabbed me,” he continued.
“We got into the carts, and we moved along pretty, pretty good,” Trump added. “I was with an agent, and the agent did a fantastic job. There was no question that we were getting off that course.”
“I would have loved to have sank that last putt, but we decided, let’s get out of here.”
Trump noted, “what the gunfire was, actually, interestingly, was a Secret Service agent had seen a barrel of an AK 47, which is a very powerful rifle, and he started shooting at the barrel.”
“How good is that, right? Could only see the barrel. Based on that, he started shooting and ran toward the target … those were the shots we heard.”
The would-be assassin then “ran across the street and grabbed his car, hopped into his truck or car,” according to Trump.
“Amazingly, a civilian in that area saw something, and it looked very suspicious, and in the car, drove their car to the back of [Routh’s] truck of some kind, and took pictures of the license plate, gave it to the sheriff’s office,” the former president said.
Trump explained that “within a fairly short period of time, they tracked him down on the highways” after a “pretty high-speed chase.”
The 45th president praised the quick-thinking civilian who was able to snap a photo of Routh’s license plate, calling it “key” to his arrest.
“So the agent did a fantastic job. The civilian did a phenomenal job – a woman,” Trump said. “How many people would have the brainpower to follow him and take pictures of the back of his truck?”
“The Secret Service did a great job,” he reiterated. “And I think I can say honestly the sheriff’s office, law enforcement, everybody really did a great job. I’m quite happy about that.”
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When asked what he makes of being the target of two assassination attempts in two months, Trump attributed it to the political “rhetoric” coming from Democrats.
“Well, there’s a lot of rhetoric going on right now,” he said. “A lot of people think that the Democrats, when they talk about threats to democracy and all of this. And it seems that both of these people were radical left.”
“The first one they should learn more about,” Trump said, referring to 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper moments after he opened fire during a rally in Butler.
“They have apps that they haven’t opened yet, which is pretty strange. And the father went out and got the biggest lawyer in the state of Pennsylvania, which is pretty strange,” he continued, referring to the Butler shooter.
“That was some crazy day,” Trump said of the first assassination attempt, “and then yesterday you had another one with a different result – actually much better result.”
The former president noted that firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed and two others were left “badly hurt” in the Butler shooting, whereas no one was injured during Sunday’s assassination attempt.
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Routh, 58, was charged Monday with possessing a firearm despite being a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Additional charges may be filed against him as the investigation continues and prosecutors seek an indictment, prosecutors said.
Businessman Steve Witkoff, who was golfing with Trump when the shots rang out Sunday, also spoke during the X Spaces event and said the former president was more worried about others than himself.
“I feel blessed that I was out there because I got to see what he has to live his daily life like – two assassination attempts in the last two months,” Witkoff said.
“He is as courageous a man as I’ve ever seen,” he added. “He cared about his friends first. He asked about his friends first. And it was inspiring to watch him.”
“He’s resilient, he’s stoic – who wouldn’t want those qualities in a leader? He is a natural born leader.”
