Secret Service acting director meeting with Trump and touring site of assassination attempt
The acting director of the Secret Service will meet Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence following a second apparent attempt on his life in two months.
Ronald Rowe arrived in Florida on Monday morning after the incident at the Trump International Golf Course on Sunday.
The former president was unharmed and the FBI has said it is investigating how the latest security episode involving the Republican presidential nominee occurred.
It comes just nine weeks after he survived a previous attempt on his life when he was shot in the ear by a sniper at a rally in Pennsylvania.
According to sources close to the matter, Rowe is due to spend the morning meeting with local and federal law enforcement partners and will later do a walk-through of Trump’s golf course.
He will also meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, sources told NBC.
The former president’s golf game on Sunday was considered an off-the-record protectee movement, not a planned or scheduled event.
His security apparatus included counter-assault, counter-surveillance, counter-sniper teams as well as a protective intelligence unit and a drone contingent, according to an official with knowledge of the plans.
Following the incident Trump posted thanks to the Secret Service on Truth Social as well as local law enforcement, who he described as “dedicated patriots” who had done an “incredible job.”
“THE JOB DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!” he wrote.
The Secret Service was criticized heavily, including by Trump following the incident in Pennsylvania in July, during which the former president was hit in the right ear by a bullet.
The resulting investigation led to the then-head of the agency, Kimberly Cheatle, to resign.
Also on Monday, the alleged Florida gunman, named by authorities as 58-year-old Ryan Routh, was charged with two federal gun offenses.
Routh was spotted aiming an AK-47-type rifle at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf resort while concealed in shrubbery about 400 to 500 yards away from the politician when he was spotted by Secret Service agents who opened fire as he fled the scene.