Pressure is growing to increase Donald Trump’s Secret Service protection after the second apparent assassination attempt on the former president in two months.
“The service needs more help,” President Joe Biden said on Monday. “Congress should respond to their needs if they in fact need more service people.”
Ryan Routh faced federal gun charges at a hearing in Florida over the incident on Sunday at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
Investigators say Routh carried an SKS-style scoped rifle, was waiting near the course for 12 hours, and was within about 300-500 yards (275-460m) of Trump but never had a “line of sight”.
Routh was arrested on an interstate highway around 45 minutes after a secret service agent spotted the muzzle of a rifle poking out of the bushes.
He was laying in wait in bushes on “public side of the fence” around the sixth hole of the course, investigators say.
Authorities have charged Routh with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He will attend another next week to determine whether he should remain in custody.
Trump told supporters that he was safe and well, and thanked the Secret Service – the government agency with responsibility for protecting the president and major US officials – and other law enforcement agencies for doing an “incredible job”.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said that Trump does not receive the same level of protection that a sitting president does.
“If he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded,” he said.
On Monday, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said that Trump’s golf outing was not planned in advance, and that agents were given little notice.
Trump “wasn’t even really supposed to go there, it was not on his official schedule”, Mr Rowe noted.
“We put together a security plan, and that security plan worked,” he said.
He added that Mr Biden had approved “increased assets” for presidential candidates following the assassination attempt against Trump in July. The assets, which were in place for Trump on Sunday, included snipers, counter assault teams and drones.
Mr Rowe said the “footprint” of Trump’s security team now compared to when he was president.
Calls to boost protection
Several members of Congress, from both major parties, have said that presidential candidates should receive the same level of protection as the sitting president.
Senator Tom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said he would introduce legislation to get that.
Representative Claudia Tenney of New York, a Republican, posted on Twitter/X that it was “inexplicable” that Trump could come close to a second attempt on his life.
A number of Democrats also called for a review of security procedures.
“Two assassination attempts in 60 days on a former President & the Republican nominee is unacceptable,” tweeted Ro Khanna, a Democratic member of the House from California.
The bipartisan congressional task force investigating the first assassination attempt against Trump had requested an additional briefing from the Secret Service after Sunday’s incident.
Former agents in the service have suggested to the BBC that Trump needs more protection than other former presidents, given that he is running for the White House.
“We now have to re-evaluate,” said former agent Barry Donadio. “Should all these candidates get the same presidential protective package? I think that’s probably going to have to be the answer.”
The assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July led to the resignation of Kimberly Cheatle, the Secret Service chief who admitted that the agency had had its “most significant operational failure” in decades.
Trump blames Biden and Harris
In an interview with Fox News, Trump blamed President Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris for the attack.
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump told Fox News, without referencing any evidence.
“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at,” he said, “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.”
Mr Biden said he was “relieved” that Trump was unharmed, adding : “I have directed my team to continue to ensure that Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former president’s continued safety.”
Ms Harris said she was “deeply disturbed” by the attempted assassination and that she was “thankful that former President Trump is safe”.
“We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence,” she said.
