Former President Donald Trump recounted on Monday night the harrowing moments when a Secret Service agent engaged his alleged would-be assassin at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach on Sunday.
Trump took to X Spaces to share his first-hand account of the second attempt on his life in just two months.
Trump said he and his friends were enjoying a pristine day on the golf course when shots rang out from a Secret Service agent who engaged a suspect staking out the golf course with a scoped AK-47.
“Everything was beautiful. It was a nice place to be,” he said. “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, but what do I know about that? But Secret Service knew immediately it was bullets.”
Trump said agents grabbed him and his friends, including businessman Steve Witkoff, hustling them away from the area in golf carts.
“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,” Trump said.
“I would have loved to have sank that last putt, but we decided, ‘Let’s get out of here,'” he added jokingly.
Bodycam Footage: Alleged Would-Be Donald Trump Assassin Arrested
The suspect, whom authorities identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, began to flee the area in a black Nissan when a witness, whom Trump revealed on Thursday is a woman, snapped an image of his license plate. Authorities said that the witness provided them with the photograph and tag numbers, enabling them to locate the vehicle via tag readers.
Authorities took Routh into custody on I-95 in Martin County.
Trump said the civilian witness “did a phenomenal job.”
“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 [him?]” he asked, adding that the license plate was the “key.”
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