By EFE
Sep 16, 2024, 5:39 PM EDT
NEW YORK – U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday, a day after a possible assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Florida, that the Secret Service “needs more help” to ensure security operations.
“One thing I want to make clear is that the Secret Service needs more help, and I think Congress should respond to their needs. In fact, they need more people, and we’re going to consider that,” Biden said before leaving the White House for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Trump was the victim of a new assassination attempt yesterday, Sunday, after an individual, who was detained by the Secret Service, approached the golf course where the Republican candidate was playing, armed with an AK-47 rifle with a telescopic sight, but did not shoot.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confirmed that what happened at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, is being investigated as an apparent “attempted murder.”
The incident occurred around 1:30 p.m. local time (17:30 GMT) and the first thing the Republican campaign heard a few minutes later was that the former president (2017-2021) was safe.
Appearing today at an event marking National HBCU Week – higher education institutions established for African Americans during the period of segregation – the Democratic politician first referred to the incident to condemn “political violence” in all its forms.
“Political violence has no place here. In America, we resolve our differences peacefully at the ballot box, not at gunpoint. America has suffered the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet too many times. That solves nothing and we must do everything we can to prevent it,” said Biden, who had already expressed his “relief” yesterday at Trump’s health.
He then congratulated the Secret Service for its “excellent handling of the situation” and for ensuring that the former president was “protected from any harm,” although he reiterated that “we are evaluating whether further adjustments need to be made to the Secret Service to ensure security” during the campaign.
Ryan Wesley Routh (58 years old), the suspect of trying to assassinate Trump on a golf course in South Florida, was charged this Monday with two federal charges for possessing firearms, for which he could face up to 20 years in prison.
Trump, meanwhile, blamed his new assassination attempt, the second in two months, on “the rhetoric of the communist left.”
“Because of this rhetoric from the communist left, bullets are flying, and this is only going to get worse!” the former president warned on his social network, Truth Social.
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