How Secret Service Blunders Made Donald Trump 'Sitting Duck' for Golf Club Assassination
Trump has claimed he would "gladly' hand over records, but he has yet to do so.
Oct. 1 2024, Published 10:35 a.m. ET
Donald Trump is lucky to be alive after yet another display of his Secret Service detail's ineptitude.
And RadarOnline.com can reveal security experts say the agency's failures are making the former president a sitting duck for would-be assassins.
The revelations come just 67 days after the first attempt on Trump's life at a rally in Pennsylvania – and less than one month since the arrest of suspected shooter Ryan Wesley Routh.
Routh, 58, is accused of hiding in bushes while waiting for a clear shot at the 78-year-old former president while he played golf at his West Palm Beach golf course.
A former Secret Service member said: "It's really incredible that this lunatic was able to get so close to Trump on his own golf course, especially considering what just happened in Pennsylvania.
In a sensational jailhouse letter to a reporter from inside the Federal Detention Center in Miami, Ryan Wesley Routh ranted about his twisted motives to kill Trump, 78.
"Considering the fact the would-be shooter was in the area for 12 hours leading up to the incident, the Secret Service should have been able to detect him with any one of the multiple perimeter sweeps you would expect them to perform if Trump were playing the course."
Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. admitted the golf course was never searched before Trump began his round on Sept. 14 because it was "not part of our usual schedule".
The source continued: "If you're on the golf course, you already know Trump is a target, so why weren't more agents assigned to drones? Why aren't there more eyes overhead? It's inexcusable.
Routh was charged with the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, “which strikes at the very heart of our democratic system,” according to FBI Director Christopher Wray.
"The Secret Service deserves all the scorn in the world for permitting this to happen again.
"Let's face it. Trump's own golf course should be one of the most secure places on Earth right now, but instead, some maniac was able to set up shop and linger in the area with a high-powered rifle for hours. It's mind-boggling."
Trump praised the Secret Service for doing a "great job" following the incident before adding he "does need more people" on his detail.
Trump was golfing at Trump International on Sept. 15, and a Secret Service agent conducting a perimeter security sweep saw the partially obscured face of a man — later identified as Routh — in the brush along the fence line near the sixth hole.
North Carolina native Routh was allegedly hiding in a thicket of shrubs on the public side of a fence protecting the ninth hole of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
Routh was said to be spotted by an eagle-eyed agent stationed one hole ahead of Trump who saw the muzzle of an AK-47-style rifle peeking through the leaves.
The agent opened fire, forcing the gunman to leave his hiding spot before he got a chance to take a shot at the GOP presidential nominee 400 yards away.
Routh was eventually arrested a short time later more than 40 miles north from the scene of the incident.
The Senate committee tasked with investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump by Matthew Thomas Crooks at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania recently released its report.
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The close call comes a little more than two months after Secret Service agents were blamed for allowing Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, to take shots at Trump that grazed his ear, killed volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore and wounded two others.
In Crooks' case, more than 20 minutes passed between the time he was spotted by Secret Service agents on a nearby roof and when he opened fire.
Following the incident, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned amid questions from critics about the agency's ability to protect candidates and their families.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat and member of the congressional task force now investigating both assassination attempts, said: "This is getting embarrassing for the agency, and people in Congress are bewildered why we're in this situation now for a second time."
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