The Secret Service is under pressure but could get new funding as politicians consider what led to two assassination attempts on former President Trump in just over two months.
“Let me make one thing clear: Our troops need more support,” President Biden said at the White House on Monday morning, “and I think Congress should respond to their needs.”
“We’re thankful the president is safe,” Biden added.
Asked what the Secret Service might need, Biden said, “They may decide whether they need to add more personnel.”
Ryan Wesley Routh was detained on Sunday after a man was seen pointing an AK-47-style weapon at President Trump while he was playing golf at a golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
According to the Associated Press, Routh briefly entered a federal court in Florida on Monday morning for his first appearance wearing a navy blue prison uniform and with handcuffs around his feet. He sat quietly and without any signs of nervousness for about five minutes before being escorted back by deputies to await his hearing.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Sunday that the state would investigate the incident.
“The public has a right to know the truth about the attempted assassin and how he managed to get within 500 yards of a former president and current Republican,” DeSantis said on X.
President Trump was unharmed by the incident and was seen in good spirits a few hours later.
“What an interesting day indeed!” Trump wrote on Sunday night.
Trump thanked the Secret Service, Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw and police officers for “doing a fantastic job” to keep him safe. “They did a fantastic job,” he wrote. “I am so proud to be an American!”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that he and his wife, Kelly, were on their way to meet President Trump at Mar-a-Lago, across the Intracoastal Waterway from the golf club, when the shooting occurred.
The two met after the traffic stop. Johnson and Trump were briefed by phone about 90 minutes later by Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe, Johnson said. Johnson on Sunday praised the Secret Service’s swift action, including the officer who found the gun, but said more needs to be done for Trump.
“President Trump needs the press more than anybody,” Johnson said, attributing his survival to divine providence. “He’s the one being attacked the most, the one being threatened the most.”
He said the agency needs “every asset available” and would “provide more if necessary,” but added, “I don’t think this is a funding issue. I think this is a staffing issue.”
Johnson said the House and Senate would investigate the two assassination attempts and release reports. He praised the “really patriotic and wonderful people who work for the Secret Service” but criticized its leadership, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, whom the House impeached in February before the Senate dismissed the charges. The agency oversees the Secret Service.
“I don’t have confidence in Secretary Mayorkas,” he said.
As the FBI and Secret Service investigate security lapses, California Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, called on the Secret Service to speak before Congress on Monday.
“Two assassination attempts in 60 days on a former president and Republican candidate is unacceptable,” Khanna said.
“The Secret Service should come to Congress tomorrow and tell us what resources it needs to expand the perimeter, and allocate them by bipartisan vote that same day.”
Leaders of a bipartisan congressional task force investigating the July 13 assassination attempt on President Trump in Pennsylvania said Monday they had requested a report from the Secret Service about the Florida incident.
“While we are grateful that the former president was not harmed, we remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in any form,” Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pennsylvania) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said in a statement. “The task force will share updates as more information becomes available.”
The latest assassination attempt occurred around 1:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, when a Secret Service agent spotted an AK-47-style gun protruding from among the trees on the side of the course. Secret Service agents fired at the man with the rifle, who fled, but the suspect was later arrested for a traffic violation. Trump, who was about 300 to 500 yards away from the scene, was not injured.
According to CNN, the bureau’s acting director, Rowe, will remain in Florida “indefinitely” during the investigation.
Meanwhile, tensions were rising on social media over the role of public figures in inciting further violence.
X owner Elon Musk deleted the post on Sunday saying “No one is trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.”
Musk, who supports Trump and has also given an interview on X, wrote the post in response to a user who asked, “Why would they want to kill Donald Trump?”
After the comments drew widespread condemnation, Musk wrote: “It turns out jokes are much less funny when they’re delivered in plain text without people knowing the context.”
Sean Spicer, a former press secretary for President Trump, goaded Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) online when Jeffries criticized “radical MAGA Republicans” as “the party that is pushing for a nationwide abortion ban and President Trump’s Project 2025.”
“Given the past 24 hours, you are almost certainly on the extreme side,” Spicer said.
On Sunday afternoon, Libertarian Party presidential candidate Chase Oliver denounced a now-deleted post by the New Hampshire Libertarian Party that was posted hours before the assassination attempt, calling for political violence against Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Whoever murders Kamala Harris will be an American hero,” the account later said, commenting, “We do not want to violate the terms we agreed to on this website.”
“This is abhorrent and should never have been posted,” Oliver wrote in the post’s X. “As libertarians, we condemn the use of force, whether by governments, individuals or other political entities. We are committed to the principles of non-aggression and the peaceful resolution of disputes.”
