Trump shaken but upbeat after Secret Service stops gunman
SAUL MARTINEZ/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Police outside Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., today. A would-be killer got within shooting distance of former President Donald Trump for the second time in about two months Ѡstopped only by the swift, keen-eyed response of Secret Service agents Ѡraising new questions about the agencyճ broader ability to protect candidates in its charge.
Stay updated on Hawaii and national elections coverageFormer President Donald Trump was said to be shocked at what the FBI described as the second attempt on his life in two months, but he was already cracking jokes about it Sunday afternoon in phone calls with advisers and allies.
One such call, with his former White House doctor, Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas, reflected the mixture of unease and jocularity that defined Trump’s immediate reaction. Jackson said in an interview that he called Trump to check in on him around two hours after the Secret Service had driven off an armed man from the fence line of Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course.
“He told me he was always glad to hear from me but he was glad he didn’t need my services today,” said Jackson, who tended to Trump’s wounded ear while traveling with him the day after a would-be assassin’s bullet flew within inches of his brain, at a rally in Butler, Penn., on July 13.
“I just told him I was glad he was OK and he said he can’t believe this happened,” Jackson added. “But he said he’s doing well and the team was doing well.”
Trump had been playing golf with his friend and campaign donor, real estate investor Steve Witkoff, around 1:30 p.m. when gunshots rang out. Trump was between the fifth and sixth holes and Secret Service agents were traveling ahead of him, scoping out potential threats on the course. An agent had spotted the barrel of a semiautomatic rifle poking through the bushes. The agent opened fire on the man, who escaped in his car before being caught by police later, law enforcement officials said.
Trump gave his renditions of the episode to advisers and allies. A friend of Trump, Fox News host Sean Hannity, went on air to deliver dramatic eyewitness accounts he said he received from both Trump and Witkoff.
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“They were on the fifth hole, they were about to go up to putt,” Hannity said on Fox News on Sunday. He added that they heard “pop, pop, pop, pop,” before the Secret Service pounced on top of the former president to protect him and a steel-reinforced car whisked him away.
Trump was later taken back to Mar-a-Lago, his private club and home in Palm Beach.
Trump joked to allies Sunday afternoon that he was disappointed not to be able to finish his putt, and lamented that he had been set to shoot under par.
Hannity said that Trump told him, “I was even and I had a birdie putt.”
Trump’s senior political advisers were not with him when the plot was foiled and some were shaken when they first heard about it and tried to piece together what had happened.
His advisers were furious at the fact that they were facing another unnerving security situation, with a second potential shooter getting within striking distance of the former president.
Sunday evening, House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on social media that he and his wife, Kelly, had spent a few hours with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and that they were “thanking God for protecting him today — once again.” He added: “No leader in American history has endured more attacks and remained so strong and resilient.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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