2nd assassination attempt against Trump sparks concerns 45 is still in danger: experts
Former President Donald Trump has faced two known assassination attempts against his life across a roughly two-month span, and he may still be in danger of others, experts warned Fox News Digital.
"This is not the last attempt that there’ll be. They're going to keep coming at him," Gene Petrino, a retired SWAT commander for Florida's Plantation Police Department for 26 years and an expert on active shooter incidents, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
"Other people are gonna see it that way, and the only responsible thing to do is now increase, even more, his security footprint," Petrino added.
Trump was safely escorted from the green at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday after suspect Ryan Routh allegedly pointed a rifle towards the 45th president just outside the perimeter of the club. Routh fled the scene but was apprehended shortly thereafter on I-95.
Authorities are investigating the incident as an apparent assassination attempt against Trump.
On July 13, Trump held a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was shot in the ear by 20-year-old Matthew Crooks. Crooks opened fire on the president while perched on a nearby roof, injuring two others attending the rally, and killing local dad and volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore.
The attack in July unfolded just two days ahead of the Republican National Convention kicking off in Milwaukee. Trump attended the convention despite the attack and was seen wearing a bandage over his ear when he accepted the GOP’s presidential nomination.
"The amazing thing is that prior to the shot, if I had not moved my head at that very last instant, the assassin’s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark and I would not be here tonight. We would not be together," Trump said at the RNC in his acceptance speech.
"Bullets were flying over us, yet I felt serene. But now the Secret Service agents were putting themselves in peril. They were in very dangerous territory," Trump continued. "Bullets were flying right over them, missing them by a very small amount of inches. And then it all stopped. Our Secret Service sniper, from a much greater distance and with only one bullet used, took the assassin’s life. Took him out."
The apparent failed attempted assassination in Sunday’s attack did not fire a shot off – unlike Crooks – as a Secret Service agent spotted him and shot at him first.
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Petrino lauded the actions of the Secret Service and other law enforcement on Sunday for protecting Trump before the unthinkable unfolded, but the attempt has sparked concern among security experts.
"They did a great job this time. They seemed to be on the ball," he said before adding he believes "there should have been more" effort on the part of Trump’s security detail to catch Routh before he was located just roughly 300 yards from the 45th president.
Bill Stanton, a former NYPD officer and an executive protection expert, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that he also fears bad actors will make another attempt on Trump’s life.
"This is my fear. When it rains, it pours … I don't think it stops at two," Stanton said.
Both Stanton and Petrino called for an increase in security surrounding Trump, which echoed calls from Capitol Hill that Trump be offered heightened protection following the second attempt.
"It is imperative that the USSS detail assigned to President Trump be afforded additional protective resources, including greater staffing capabilities that would allow agents to secure a broader perimeter," Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., wrote in a letter to acting Director Ronald Rowe on Tuesday.
Marshall and Tuberville, joined by Sens. James Risch, R-Idaho; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.,;Bill Cassidy, R-La.; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; and Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., requested that Rowe and the Secret Service "designate President Trump as a protectee with the same level of protective resources afforded to a sitting president."
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Trump, as well as Petrino and Stanton, pinned blame for the second attempt on inflammatory political rhetoric, with the former president specifically pointing to comments from the Biden-Harris administration.
"[The suspect] believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it," Trump told Fox News Digital on Monday. "Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, 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."
In the interview, Trump pointed to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ past comments describing him as a "threat to democracy," while telling Americans they are "unity" leaders.
"It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat," Trump said.
During the White House press briefing on Tuesday, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked if the administration planned to drop using words such as "threat" to describe Trump, considering the second assassination attempt. Doocy noted in his question that Trump has lobbed similar attacks against Biden and Harris.
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the use of the word, citing Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters breached the U.S. Capitol.
Trump is back on the campaign trail this week, heading to Long Island for a campaign rally on Wednesday. False reports spread across social media ahead of the rally that explosives had been found in a car near where Trump was set to speak.
The reports were quickly dismissed by local officials as false, but underscore ongoing concerns and potential threats against Trump.