Trump hails fast golf cart after fleeing gunman
Ex-president seeks better protection following second attempt on his life
DONALD TRUMP has hailed a “rather quick golf cart” for helping him escape a second potential attempt on his life.
The 78-year-old, who had been warned by the Secret Service against playing golf on his own courses, was 300 yards from a gunman on Sunday before he was spotted by the security detail.
The Republican praised the Secret Service member who opened fire on the gunman, despite questions of how a would-be assassin was able to get so close to Trump two months after a bullet grazed his ear in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Asked by the Washington Post if agents jumped on him when the first shots rang out, Trump said: “No, we actually did more of get-out-of-thearea thing.
“And that would be on the golf carts – rather quick golf carts. But they were very protective, very good. They did a great job and tough.”
In a separate interview on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday evening, the former president joked about having to abandon his golf game, saying he “would have loved to sink that last putt”.
Trump said he agreed with calls to improve his level of Secret Service protection in the wake of the two assassination attempts.
“We do need more people on my detail because we have 50... 60,000 people showing up to events,” he said.
The Republican added that his phone call with Joe Biden in the aftermath of the shooting “couldn’t have been nicer”, despite previously blaming the US president for inspiring the gunman.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, the suspected gunman, was arrested in his car 50 miles from the golf course on suspicion of the assassination attempt. He was charged with federal firearms offences on Monday.
Trump’s rounds of golf have long concerned the Secret Service. They are anxious about the challenge of securing large, open areas that provide scope and cover to a marksman.
Authorities reportedly warned him about the risks of playing at his own courses soon after he became president in 2017, where paparazzi with long lenses frequently photograph him.
Roland L Rowe, the acting head of the Secret Service, said Sunday’s game of golf had been impromptu and not on Trump’s schedule.
He did not clarify whether this meant his agents did not have time to sweep the course’s perimeter.
Trump said the second assassination attempt had not affected him, adding: “I try not to think about it. But people ask me that question a lot, and I try not to think about it. This was different from the first one… I mean, the gun was even more violent. And the bullets were from the Secret Service and they caught him.
“They caught him before anything happened. But it would have happened. I mean, he’s somebody that it would have happened [sic].”
Although the presidential candidate blamed Kamala Harris and other political opponents for provoking the assassination attempt with “inflammatory” rhetoric, he praised the response from both parties in Congress.
“One thing I’ll say is that the investigation that’s going on is, believe it or not... it seems to be non-partisan,” he said.
“The Democrats are just as angry about Butler and this one as the Republicans because it can happen to them.
“And they understand that and they don’t want that. And I don’t think they want it to happen to me either.
“But rhetorically, it’s very dangerous what they do.”