Former President Donald Trump said Monday that the man who allegedly tried to assassinate him as he golfed Sunday was motivated by the “rhetoric” of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” the Republican presidential nominee, 78, told Fox News.
“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”
Trump cited suspect Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, using nearly identical language to Biden and Harris about the ex-president posing a threat to American democracy if he retakes the White House.
Routh was discovered hiding in the bushes adjacent to Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach as the former president played a round. Authorities discovered a tactical rifle, a scope and a GoPro camera after the suspect fled the scene.
“These are people that want to destroy our country,” Trump said Monday of Biden and Harris. “It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat.”
The 45th president wrote in a Truth Social post Monday afternoon that Harris’ remarks at last Tuesday’s ABC News presidential debate may have had a role in the latest attempt on his life.
“The Rhetoric, Lies, as exemplified by the false statements made by Comrade Kamala Harris during the rigged and highly partisan ABC Debate, and all of the ridiculous lawsuits specifically designed to inflict damage on Joe’s, then Kamala’s, Political Opponent, ME, has taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust,” Trump wrote.
“Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!”
Biden, 81, and Harris, 59, both denounced the assassination attempt.
“I commend the Secret Service for the expert handling of the situation,” Biden said Monday in a speech to historically black college leaders in Philadelphia.
“America has suffered too many times the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet,” the president added. “It solves nothing. It just tears the country apart. We must do everything we can to prevent it and never give it any oxygen.”
Routh posted a variety of political comments on social media and was interviewed by major news outlets in recent years about his efforts to recruit Afghans to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
In April, Routh wrote that “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose.”
Biden, 81, repeatedly used the phrase “democracy is on the ballot” before ending his campaign for a second term on July 21 and endorsing Harris as his successor.
Here’s what we know about the assassination attempt on Trump in Florida:
- Former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15, 2024.
- Trump sent out a statement to supporters soon after to report that he was “SAFE AND WELL.”
- The suspect — identified as Ryan Routh, 58, of Hawaii — was able to get within 300 to 500 yards of Trump at a chain link fence on the edge of the course, where he had an AK-47 and a GoPro camera set up, apparently to record the planned shooting.
- Routh has a history of supporting progressive causes online and has made 19 donations to Democratic candidates since 2019.
- A Secret Service agent spotted and opened fire on Routh as he put his gun through the fence. The suspect fled and was arrested on I-95 a short time later.
- According to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, Trump’s security detail was lighter because he isn’t a sitting president — despite the previous attempt on his life in July.
Harris, 59, also has claimed that Trump is a threat to democracy — both before and after he was grazed by a bullet on July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pa., when Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle in an attack with a still-unclear motive.
“Donald Trump wants to turn our democracy into a dictatorship,” Harris said July 9 in Las Vegas — four days before the first assassination attempt against Trump.
Less than a month later, Harris had returned to saying that “our fundamental freedoms are on the ballot and so is our democracy,” making identical utterances twice on July 31.
During the ABC News debate in Philadelphia, Harris said, “Donald Trump left us the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”
Democrats point to Trump’s refusal to accept his defeat in the 2020 election, beginning a bid to overturn the result that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Follow the latest on the foiled assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Florida:
- Trump ‘safe and well’ after being targeted by would-be assassin with AK-47 assault rifle for second time in 2 months
- Shots fired near Trump live updates: Would-be shooter was 300-500 yards away, came with scope and GoPro — ‘Intent on filming’
- Trump assures he’s ‘SAFE AND WELL’ after Secret Service fires at man armed with assault rifle at president’s golf resort
- Trump’s security at golf course was lighter because he’s not sitting prez: official
- Demands mount for Trump to get same protection as Biden — after yet another assassination plot
- Would-be Trump assassin ID’d as Ryan Routh, 58, of Hawaii: sources
Biden and Harris have drawn criticism for taking Trump out of context to make that argument, including saying this year that Trump has threatened a “bloodbath” if he loses, when the ex-president actually was referring to the possible effects of the election on the auto industry.
Spokespeople for Biden and Harris have not commented on Routh using language similar to theirs.
Routh made a range of other posts online — including claiming in 2020 that he was a disillusioned former Trump supporter who had backed the populist conservative in 2016.
Also this year, he wrote that he believed that two former Trump rivals, former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, should run together as an independent presidential ticket.
