The Epoch Times

Top Democrats condemned what appears to be a second attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life in public statements. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday evening said he had been briefed on the incident, and expressed gratitude to law enforcement. “I was just briefed by the Acting Director of the Secret Service,” Schumer said in a post on X. “I applaud the Secret Service for their quick response to ensure former President Trump’s safety.” “There is no place in this country for political violence of any kind,” Schumer said. “The perpetrator must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, also condemned the incident. Walz said he is “glad” to hear that the former president is safe. “Violence has no place in our country,” he wrote in a post on X. “It’s not who we are as a nation.” Walz’s comments were made after an earlier statement by Harris, who said she had been briefed on the incident and likewise expressed gratitude that Trump was safe. The suspect, who has not yet been identified, is currently in the custody of Florida’s Martin County Police Department. Local prosecutors are working on state-level warrant and pretrial detention applications, but officials say federal charges are also possible. The FBI has said that the incident “appears to be” a second attempt on Trump’s life, but the suspect’s identity and motives for the attack remain unclear.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw said that the Secret Service “did exactly what they should have done” ahead of and following a second attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life at his south Florida golf course. In a press conference following the incident, Bradshaw said that Trump has fewer Secret Service agents protecting him than a sitting president. Because he’s not president, “security is limited to the areas that the areas that the Secret Service deems possible,” Bradshaw said. “I would imagine that the next time he comes to the golf course, there will probably be a little more people around the perimeter. But the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done, they provided exactly what the protection should have been and their agent did a fantastic job.” While former presidents and their spouses receive protection by the Secret Service for life, the specifics depend on the agency’s perception of threat levels. Typically, a former presidents’ protection wanes over time after they leave office. The second attempted assassination follows an earlier failed attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, that led to heightened scrutiny on the Secret Service and the resignation of the agency's director at the time, Kimberly Cheatle.

Dave Aronberg, state attorney for Florida's Palm Beach County, says that his prosecutors are working on charging the would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump with state-level crimes, but said that federal charges are also possible. Currently, Aronberg said, prosecutors in his office are working on crafting an application for warrants and pretrial detention of the suspect, who hasn’t yet been officially identified by authorities. “Our filing of the warrant and charges at the state level does not preclude the federal charges that could be coming,” Aronberg said. “But in the meantime, it looks like the warrants and a pretrial detention motion will happen first.” Local officials have confirmed that the suspect, who fled after facing fire from a Secret Service agent, was pulled over on I-95 and taken into custody by Martin County Police Department. According to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, a Secret Service agent screening the course noticed a rifle sticking out of a fence surrounding the area and immediately opened fire, shooting between four and six rounds. Authorities said it was unclear if the gunman took any shots. The suspect fled, but a witness took a picture of the assailant’s vehicle and license plate that was handed over to law enforcement, ultimately enabling police to apprehend him on the interstate. Trump has confirmed that he is unharmed.