‘All of a sudden we heard shots’: Trump recounts apparent assassination attempt

By CNN Newsource

Published September 16, 2024 5:47 PM

By Kate Sullivan, CNN

(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump publicly recounted Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt against him in detail for the first time, praising US Secret Service, other law enforcement and the witness who took a photo of the suspect’s car that helped lead to his apprehension.

“I was playing golf with some of my friends, it was on a Sunday morning and very peaceful, very beautiful weather, everything was beautiful, it’s a nice place to be. And all of a sudden we heard shots being fired in the air, and I guess probably four or five, and it sounded like bullets,” Trump said Monday during an X Spaces conversation in which he was expected to launch a new cryptocurrency business.

“But what do I know about that? But Secret Service knew immediately it was bullets, and they grabbed me, and I think probably the other one, Steve is one of the people. Steve Witkoff, a great friend of mine.”

Trump continued, “So we’re in the group and everybody just, we got into the carts, and we moved along pretty, pretty good. I was with an agent, and the agent did a fantastic job. There was no question that we were off that course. I would have loved to have sank that last putt, but we decided, let’s get out of here.”

Trump recounted how the agent saw the barrel of the gun through the bushes.

“He started shooting at the barrel, started shooting in the bushes. Could only see the barrel. How good is that? Right? Could only see the barrel. Based on that, he started shooting and ran toward the target and was shooting a lot, I mean, those were the shots we heard. The other one never got a shot off,” Trump said.

Trump then described how law enforcement were able to detain the gunman with the help of a witness who saw the suspect run from the bushes and took a picture of his car.

Trump praised the witness and said, “The civilian did a phenomenal job. A woman. I mean, who would think, you could take a thousand times like that, how many people would have the brainpower to follow him and take pictures of the back of his truck so that they end up getting, and the key was the license. So they got the license, and after they had the license, you know, there’s all sorts of technology where they can literally pinpoint where this truck is. I never knew something like that existed. And they pinpointed him on the highway.”

Trump said, “It was quite something, but it worked out well and Secret Service did an excellent job, and they have the man behind bars, and hopefully he’s going to be there for a long time. Dangerous person, very, very dangerous person.”

On Sunday, a Secret Service agent fired at a suspect, who officials said was within 500 yards of Trump, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

Bradshaw said no shots were fired by the person, who fled in a car. The Secret Service later said the suspect had no line of sight on the former president.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, has been charged with possession of a firearm while a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number in connection with the incident. He appeared in federal court Monday morning.

The investigation into Sunday’s apparent attempt on Trump’s life is continuing, and additional charges could be brought, law enforcement officials familiar with the matter told CNN. The initial gun-related charges were filed as prosecutors seek to keep Routh detained while authorities continue to investigate the incident.

During the conversation on X, Trump said he needed more people on his security detail and suggested he told President Joe Biden as much when the president called him earlier in the day.

“He was very nice today, he called up to make sure I was OK, to make sure that, you know, do I have any suggestions or any — we do need more people on my detail, because we have 50, 60,000 people showing up to events, and, you know, other people don’t have that, but he couldn’t have been nicer,” Trump said.

Though Trump had previously confirmed the conversation with Biden and said the pair “had a very nice call,” he had also earlier sought to blame the president and Vice President Kamala Harris for the apparent attempt on his life, saying “their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at” and that “they are the real threat.”

Biden told reporters Monday that he wants Congress to give the Secret Service “more help” in the wake of the incident.

This story has been updated with additional details.