Former President Trump’s golf partner responded on Monday on “Hannity” to an alleged second assassination attempt on the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election.
Steve Witkoff, a New York real estate investor, told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he was playing golf with Trump on Sunday afternoon when the former president was evacuated from his West Palm Beach golf course after gunfire.
FBI agents are seen at the scene outside Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024, after a shooting occurred at former President Donald Trump’s golf course. Trump’s campaign reported on Sunday that there were “shots fired in his vicinity,” but added that the Republican presidential candidate was safe. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
“Yesterday was a very special day. I feel truly blessed that I was there yesterday. And the reason I feel blessed, Sean, is that I was able to see what it’s like for my dear friend to live his normal life. His normal life that has been interrupted by two assassination attempts in the last 60 days, by the slander since he left the presidency, by false accusations and harassment,” Witkoff said.
“Here he was yesterday on a beautiful day, just trying to rest and relax like the rest of us, and there’s a man with an … assault rifle trying to kill him. It was horrific. But I saw … I saw a man who was stoic and courageous and who valued the safety of his friends more than his own life. He was an inspiration to everyone who was around him yesterday. I wish the whole country could have witnessed what happened yesterday because they would have seen a real leader.”
The suspect in the apparent assassination attempt, a 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routhwas charged Monday with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Ryan Routh is accused of pointing an AK-47 at former President Trump on Sunday as he played golf at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. The incident is being investigated as a second assassination attempt on Trump. (Obtained from Fox News Digital)
A Secret Service advance agent spotted what appeared to be a rifle sticking out of the line of trees near Trump’s golf course and opened fire, causing Routh to flee.
About 45 minutes after fleeing the scene, he was stopped and arrested by local police. after a criminal complaint released by the Justice Department. Cell phone records also show that Routh was near the tree line of the golf course for about 12 hours, from about 2 a.m. to 1:31 p.m.
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According to the complaint, agents seized a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS rifle with a telescopic sight and a bag of food near the tree line from which Routh had fled.
Images of evidence found on the fence of former President Donald Trump’s golf course are shown at a press conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024, following a second assassination attempt on the president. (Candan Khanna / AFP via Getty Images)
Witkoff said he is a gun owner and knew immediately he heard gunshots. “The Secret Service was exceptional. My assessment was that they had the president safe because I was five meters away from him, in my assessment maybe after the first shot, certainly after the second. So when the fourth shot was fired, the president was with that unit,” he explained.
“It was like they had practiced it 500 times. It was pretty impressive to watch them. And they were heroes because their lives were at stake.”
Ronald Rowe Jr., the acting director of U.S. intelligence, told reporters on Monday that Routh did not have a visual line of sight with Trump and therefore did not fire a shot.
Acting Director of the U.S. Secret Service Ronald Rowe Jr. speaks to the media at a press conference to provide an update on the investigation into the alleged assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, West Palm Beach, FL, Monday, September 16, 2024. (Mega for Fox News Digital)
“After gunfire was reported, the former president’s personal security immediately evacuated the president to a safe location. The Secret Service’s protective methods were effective yesterday. The former president’s protective apparatus enabled early detection of the threat and led to a safe evacuation. The increased resources ordered by the president, by President Biden, were on site yesterday,” Rowe said.
He also praised the men and women of the Secret Service for rising to the “unprecedented and hyperdynamic threat situation.”
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Rowe added that since the assassination attempt on former President Trump in July in Butler, Pennsylvania, the Secret Service has taken measures to ensure the “already heightened security posture” for the 2024 Republican candidate.
Former President Trump was injured in an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Witkoff told Hannity he was grateful that his “dear friend” was neither injured nor killed in the incident.
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“I feel a little love for my dear friend. And I say to myself, thank God he wasn’t hurt or killed, and thank God none of the other people were either. There were a lot of civilians there, by the way, people from his office, people who care about him as much as I do, and two other friends of his. So there could have been some really serious damage out there, but that didn’t happen,” he said. “And I’m grateful to the agent who stopped that and the whole team.”
