Trump, Harris to return to the campaign trail following assassination attempt at Florida golf course

Democrats and media pundits have linked former President Trump's rhetoric to the second assassination attempt against him in the last few months and have called on Trump to lower the temperature.

"This really seems to be the confluence of two very bad things going on in the Republican Party," Rep. Mickie Sherrill, D-N.J., told CNN's Jim Acosta on Monday, accusing the GOP of attempting to "divide" and "enrage the population" through "false rumors and misinformation."

The former president has blamed the assassination attempt on rhetoric coming from Democrats, specifically President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

CNN commentator Ana Navarro on Tuesday argued that Trump did not "get to be a very big part of the problem and then pretend that it’s just the other people on the other side who caused this."

"Quit blaming folks until you decide to take a look at what’s coming out of your mouth," "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg said on Tuesday. She also argued that only Republicans were contributing to violent rhetoric.

The New York Times' Zolan Kanno-Youngs joined CNN's Dana Bash on Tuesday and said, "you have a former president who, yes, has been the target of apparent assassinations twice, but is also an instigator of political violence."

NBC News' Lester Holt, just hours after the assassination attempt, said the attempt on Trump's life followed "fierce rhetoric" from the former president and his running mate, JD Vance.

Fox News' Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.

Ryan Routh, the man named as a suspect in what authorities believe was an assassination attempt against former President Trump on Sunday, deteriorated from a successful roofer to a man who thought the IRS was sending the cops after him, according to a retired officer who had more than 100 interactions with Routh.

Routh's arrest record in Guilford County, North Carolina, spans between the 1980s and 2010, and his charges range from writing multiple bad checks to felony firearm possession, possession of a stolen vehicle and multiple counts of possession of a weapon of mass destruction in 2002 — specifically, a "binary explosive with a 10-in[ch] detonation cord and a blasting cap."

"Routh's attitude was that he was above everybody. He could do what he wanted," Eric Rasecke, a retired Greensboro Police Department officer and Air Force veteran, told Fox News Digital. "It didn't matter. He was pretty entitled. … He ran his mouth quite a bit about how he could get off and how he owned a successful business and nobody could do anything to him and he knew everybody in Greensboro."

The first time Rasecke met Routh was in the late 1990s when the now-retired officer pulled him over for a traffic violation.

"You'd see him all the time riding his company trucks," Rasecke said. He saw Routh at least once a day because the suspect lived and worked in Rasecke's patrol zone.

"It would be not uncommon to have him cited many times a week. He was brazen about it," Rascecke said of Routh's blatant and repeated use of a vehicle with an expired license and registration. "He would never try to hide it."

Read the full article by Fox News' Audrey Conklin.

Ryan Wesley Routh's affinity for the Ukrainian cause in the country's fight against a Russian invasion shows he knows enough about right and wrong to make an insanity defense a tough sell in connection with his alleged failed assassination plot against former President Trump, according to a Florida prosecutor.

State Attorney Dave Aronberg, who is not handling Routh's case after federal prosecutors claimed jurisdiction, said that although the suspect was seen smiling and laughing with defense lawyers in his first court appearance Monday, his "manic" demeanor doesn't strike him as criminally insane.

"He fled after all, tried to get away and escape," he said. "So that shows you that he knew the difference between right and wrong. What's ironic about this guy is that he also understood that the Ukrainians were the good guys in their fight against the Russians – but to try to make his point, he was trying to do an evil act in attempting apparently to kill someone."

"This is something where this guy has got a real disconnect in his value system," Aronberg said. "There's a screw loose somewhere, it's just [that] in my mind, not enough to sustain an insanity defense under the law."

Read the full article by Fox News' Michael Ruiz and Julia Bonavita.

Ret. Greensboro PD Officer Eric Rasecke told Fox News Digital the suspect charged in the second assassination attempt of former President Trump often "played the victim."

Rasecke said he encountered Trump would-be assassin suspect Ryan Routh more than 100 times over his career.

Former President Trump said his security detail has "long requested" more manpower leading up to the assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pa., in July, and said if there’s a "weakness" in efforts to keep him safe, it’s the need for more personnel.

Trump spoke with Fox News host Sean Hannity two days after a second apparent assassination attempt on his life while he was playing golf in West Palm Beach.

"We have long requested more people, more men and women, but more people. And because, you know, we have rallies [of] 50-60,000 [people]. In New Jersey, we had 107,000 people show up. There's never been anything like it. And we have long requested more people. That's true. That's the weakness. If there's a weakness, I really think that's the weakness," he said on "Hannity."

"We have tremendous rallies and crowds, and that's a good thing, but you need more protection. And we've long requested more people. We have, I will say in Butler, we wanted more people. I heard them say it, you know, we need more people here for security. And we never seem to get that. And I think we are getting it now. Somebody told me that they will be providing more people now."

Ronald Rowe, Jr., the acting director of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), told reporters Monday that since the assassination attempt on Trump two months ago, the USSS has moved to increase assets to an "already enhanced security posture" for the 2024 GOP nominee.

Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., introduced bipartisan legislation that would seek to grant both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris the same USSS resources as President Biden.

Suspected would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged Monday with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and having a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Fox News' Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.

Donald Trump Jr., son of former President Trump, responded to his father surviving a second assassination attempt on Sunday in Florida.

He said during a Tuesday appearance on Fox News' "Jesse Watters Primetime" that his father will "keep fighting" after the latest attempt on his life with the "same resolve" he did following the first assassination attempt more than two months ago in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Former President Trump said he wants to meet the woman who supposedly alerted authorities to the vehicle being driven by a man accused of attempting to take his life on Sunday.

Trump was speaking to supporters at a town hall in Flint, Michigan when he recalled the attempt on his life in Florida on Sunday. The suspect fled the golf course where he allegedly planned to kill Trump before fleeing on foot and then in a vehicle.

“A woman driving in a car saw a man on the street,” Trump said. “Pretty busy street running, and she followed him. And he got into the car and she stopped because she thought he was trouble. He looked different. He looked like trouble. She followed him.”

“It wasn't very far and parked the car behind his car and started taking pictures of his license plate,” he added. “She goes in, she takes pictures of the plate, and then she sends the pictures into the sheriff's office.”

The suspect was arrested by Martin County sheriff's deputies on Interstate 95. Trump praised the woman for her diligence and attention to detail.

“Who would do this, if you took a thousand of these incidents? Would even one person have done it?" Trump asked. "This woman did. I haven't met her, but I'd like to meet her. I'm going to meet her, I hope.”

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the National Association of Black Journalists Tuesday where she was asked to comment on the Secret Service following the second assassination attempt on her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump.

Asked whether she had “full confidence” in the Secret Service to protect her and her family, Harris replied: “I do.”

“But, I mean, you can go back to Ohio,” Harris said, referring to reports of bomb threats against Springfield, Ohio that have been blamed on Republican rhetoric, including from Trump and his running mate, JD Vance.

“And there are far too many people in our country right now who are not feeling safe. I mean, I look at Project 2025 and I look at … the ‘Don’t Say Gay Laws’ coming out of Florida. Members of the LGBTQ community don’t feel safe right now."

Project 2025, is a policy blueprint compiled by the Heritage Foundation for a “better country for all Americans” during a conservative presidential administration.

The “Don’t Say Gay” bill refers to the Parental Rights in Education, a Florida bill which bans school employees or third parties from giving instruction on “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade. Democrats have labeled the bill “Don’t Say Gay,” falsely claiming that it bans any discussion pertaining to being gay in the state’s schools.

Harris also added “immigrants” and “women” to the people, she alleged, don't feel safe.

“So, yes I feel safe, I have Secret Service protection, but that doesn’t change my perspective on the importance of fighting for the safety of everybody in our country,” Harris said.

The nurse who flagged the man accused of attempting to kill former President Trump over the weekend to authorities said he talked about assassinations “all the time” and "wanted to kill most world leaders."

Chelsea Walsh said she met Ryan Routh while they were both in Ukraine and alerted the federal government about him but never received a response or follow-up until this week.

“I determined that after knowing Ryan for a while that he was a threat to others," Walsh told Jesse Watters on “Jesse Watters Primetime.” "I felt that it was necessary that he be reported to the proper authorities.”

She described Routh as having “very volatile” tendencies who talked about killing world leaders.

 “He always talked about wanting to kill (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un. He developed plans,” Walsh added.

He also talked about Trump and President Biden but Walsh couldn't recall exactly what Routh said about them.

“But he did speak frequently about harming world leaders,” she said.

Walsh called Routh a “good con artist” who was able to con members of the Ukrainian military and charities while getting involved with weapons and humanitarian aid despite not having a background in those fields.

She said she eventually left Ukraine early because she felt she was in danger after a conversation she had with him, without disclosing specifics.

“He was one of the reasons that I left Ukraine because I felt that I was in jeopardy by staying there and he was around,” she said. 

Former President Trump seemed in good spirits during a town hall with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Tuesday where he cracked jokes about both assassination attempts on him.

Referring to the first assassination attempt, Trump compared himself to a deer who bolted away just before getting shot by a hunter.

“My head was at a perfect angle, and it got me,” Trump said. “But if you got to be hit, that’s the best place.

Trump, who’s ear was grazed, recounted asking the doctor why there was so much blood.

“He said, ‘the ear bleeds more than anything.’ I said, ‘I’ll take it,’” Trump told the audience.

In the second assassination attempt on Sunday, Trump said the Secret Service agent wasted no time after spotting the would-be assassin in the shrubbery roughly a quarter of a mile away on his golf course.

“He didn’t say, ‘hello, what are you doing here, please?’” Trump said, eliciting laughter from the audience. “He took his gun and started shooting them. And this guy ran.”

Trump praised the woman who spotted the suspect getting into a car and speeding away.

“This woman was unbelievable because I actually asked the sheriff it happened a thousand times, would anybody have done that? He said, ‘maybe, but not much, not much,’” Trump said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he demanded the White House provide former president Trump an increase level of U.S. Secret Service protection.

Johnson, speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, and multiple Republican lawmakers have demanded Trump receive the same level of protection as President Biden.

“I've demanded that the White House, today, on the telephone and in writing, that they provide President Trump with every available asset to ensure his protection," Johnson said. "This is critically important for the White House to do the buck stops at the president's desk. We will see if they will do that.”

“He is under constant threat. He's in the midst of a heated campaign, and this is an obvious thing now proven,” he added.

Congress will also expand the scope of the existing task force created to investigate the first assassination attempt against Trump in July to include the most recent attempt on Sunday at a golf course, Johnson said.

“When this happened in Butler, it was unthinkable, that that could happen in that town on that day," he said. "Now after this, this is totally intolerable. This is not about the party. This is about the American people. We cannot tolerate this type of behavior and think that somehow we're the America that a million and a half men and women in uniform died to preserve.”

Former President Trump told his supporters Tuesday that only “consequential presidents get shot at" while speaking about trade policy with China.

Trump was speaking at a campaign rally in Flint, Michigan when he said he planned to impose a tariff on Chinese car made in Mexico.

“We're going to charge them. I'm telling you right now, I'm putting a 200% tariff on, which means they're unsellable, unsellable in the United States,” he said. “And then you wonder why I got shot at right. You know, only consequential presidents get shot at right.”

Former President Trump on Tuesday told an audience at a town hall with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders that he had a “very nice” phone call with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier in the day.

The phone call, came two days after Trump survived yet another assassination attempt within two months.

“I got a very nice call from Kamala,” Trump told the audience, eliciting boos.

“No, it was a very nice. It was very nice. It was very nice and we appreciate that,” Trump said.

President Trump, during a town hall with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said being president is more dangerous than being a racecar driver or bull riding.

"Well, it's been a great experience. It's a dangerous business. However, being president, it's a little bit dangerous. It's. You know, they think race car driving is dangerous. No, they think bull riding. That's pretty scary, right? No, this is a dangerous business, and we have to keep it safe," Trump said.

The U.S. Secret Service has enhanced its protection of former President Trump following the first attempt on his life in July, the agency said.

“Following the events of July 13 and at the direction of President Biden, the U.S. Secret Service has elevated the protective posture for all our protectees and bolstered our protective details as appropriate in order to ensure the highest levels of safety and security for those we protect,” Melissa McKenzie, a Secret Service Spokesperson, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

Lawmakers have called for Trump to receive the same level of protection given to President Biden following Sunday's attempt on his life as he was playing a round of golf.

Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe said Monday that Trump was receiving the highest level of protection his agency can provide.

“We will continue to evaluate and adjust our specific protective measures and methodology based on each location and situation,” McKenzie said without going into specifics.

Several media reports said the agency told Trump its agents can't keep him safe on his golf courses without enhancing his security detail. 

The suspect in the second failed Trump assassination attempt, Ryan Routh, may have relied on "poor man's surveillance" to target the 45th president as he waited about 12 hours outside the golf club before his arrest on Sunday.

Bill Stanton, a former NYPD officer and an executive protection expert, spoke with Fox News Digital on Tuesday regarding security failures surrounding the second attempt on Trump's life. Authorities have not yet confirmed how Routh knew Trump would be on that golf course Sunday afternoon, with Stanton saying the suspect may have employed a laser focus on Trump — which he called "Forrest Gump focus" in a nod to the classic 1994 movie — and simply Googled Trump's frequent non-campaign activities to stake out a location.

"If you have someone with like, this Forrest Gump focus… he could have done a journeyman's research on Google," Stanton said, and simply searched, "Where does Trump usually go when he's home in Florida?" before heading to Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach.

"If I'm that guy, I'm doing that, and then I'm going to do a poor man's surveillance," Stanton said, explaining the suspect would keep his eyes peeled for Trump's caravan to roll up to the course.

"I'm guessing [Trump] has a lead car. I'm guessing he has his main car and then the chase car. So that's a little motorcade. That's at minimum three cars, not to mention the advance car. So that's about four vehicles right there, and [Routh] could have guessed it," Stanton said of Routh likely monitoring the club for Trump's motorcade ahead of the attempt.

News broke Sunday afternoon that Trump had been safely escorted from the course at his Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach after reports of gunfire in his vicinity. Trump was not injured during what is being investigated as a likely assassination attempt, with the suspect identified as a 58-year-old man from Hawaii, Ryan Wesley Routh.

Federal authorities on Monday released charging documents related to Routh's charges stemming from the suspected assassination attempt, and found Routh's phone was located near the golf club for about 12 hours, beginning at 1:59 a.m. Sunday until approximately 1:31 p.m. that same day.

"Agents requested T-Mobile, on an emergency basis, to provide law enforcement with information pertaining to Routh's mobile phone usage. Those records indicated that Routh's mobile phone was located in the vicinity of the area along the tree line from approximately 1:59 AM until approximately 1:31 PM on September 15," the charging document reads.

Read more about Ryan Routh's targeting of former President Trump by Emma Colton. 

The “left-wing” media outlets that have promoted the idea that former President Trump is a threat to democracy are to blame for the two failed attempts on his life, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said.

“Without question, I blame CNN, MSNBC and all the other left-wing outlets for promoting this idea that Donald Trump is going to end all elections, that democracy is being threatened, that it's going to be the end of the world,” he told “America Reports.”

He said the news organizations have misinformed the public about Trump's policy positions and have incited hatred against him.

“Every crazy person in the country now is ginned up,” he said. “So CNN, MSNBC, the Democrats in general need to tone it down because they are inciting this anger.”

“They're not saying Donald Trump's policies are wrong. They're saying that he is evil, that he will ruin the country, they'll be no more voting… none of that is true. It's all a lie.”

Democrats have repeatedly called Trump a threat to democracy and have sometimes used incendiary language to dissuade voters from supporting him, according to critics.

“They need to stop it,” said Paul. “We've had two shooting episodes in a two-month period. I fear for what comes forward.”

Researchers in government and taxpayer-assisted private think tanks have hyped the threat of "far-right extremists" while failing to acknowledge growing threats of left-wing violence, critics say, pointing to the two assassination attempts against former President Trump to demonstrate the danger posed by some on the left.

"I think it goes without saying that violence of any kind is intolerable," legal fellow at Heritage Foundation Zach Smith told Fox News Digital. "It shouldn't be tolerated in our country. And while I appreciate some of the left have paid lip service to that ideal, they haven't followed through with their actions. They haven't followed through in terms of the resources and the willingness to confront the left-wing extremists that we've seen."

Regarding threats against Donald Trump and his associates, Smith said, "We've seen condemnations of violence on the left, that's good, and that's appropriate."