By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign said he is safe after what the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said “appears to be an attempted assassination” of the former president in Florida—just two months after another assassination attempt on Trump.
CNN and the Associated Press report the Secret Service fired at an armed person near Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club, citing unnamed sources.
The man, who is in his 50s, was taken into custody by the West Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office after a traffic stop on I-95.
The FBI said Sunday it is responding to West Palm Beach, Florida, and “is investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination” of former President Donald Trump.
Trump issued a defiant statement after the apparent attempt on his life. “There were gunshots in my vicinity but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!” he wrote in a campaign alert letting supporters know he was unharmed.
It comes almost exactly two months after Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump at a rally in Butler, on July 13 — wounding him in the ear.
The White House said President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed on the security incident and are “relieved” to know Trump is safe, and Harris put out her own statement saying she is “glad he is safe,” adding: “Violence has no place in America.”
In an X post, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, one of Trump’s top congressional allies, said he had spoken with Trump after the incident and that Trump was in “good spirits” and was “one of the strongest people I’ve ever known.”
Trump is supposed to speak about cryptocurrency live Monday night on the social media site X for the launch of his sons’ crypto platform. He’s expected to do that from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The former president is scheduled to return to the campaign trail on Tuesday for a town hall in Flint, Michigan with his former press secretary, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, followed by a campaign rally in New York on Long Island on Wednesday.
At the end of the week, he’s scheduled to attend and address the Israeli-American Council National Summit in Washington, D.C. and on Saturday hold a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina.