Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would have preferred to finish the golf match against his opponents despite the alleged assassination attempt on him. “I would have preferred to sink the last putt, but we decided that we had to get out of here,” the 78-year-old reportedly said during a conversation on the X Spaces platform. He praised the Secret Service, a witness and law enforcement for their quick action during the incident on Sunday afternoon (local time), in which bodyguards shot at the armed suspect.
Trump was playing golf with friends at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida, when a Secret Service bodyguard saw a rifle barrel sticking out of the bush-lined fence of the golf course. According to police, officers then quickly opened fire. The suspect, who was only a few hundred meters away from Trump, did not fire a shot. He fled in a car and was arrested a short time later on a nearby highway.
At first everything was very peaceful, Trump described his perception. “Suddenly we heard shots being fired into the air.” The Secret Service knew immediately that it was bullets. “There was no question that we would leave the golf course.” A witness took a photo of the suspect’s car, which also helped locate the vehicle. “The civilian did a phenomenal job,” said Trump, who also praised the Secret Service – they had put the man behind bars. “Hopefully he will stay there for a long time. A dangerous person, a very, very dangerous person.”
Trump often plays golf at one of his clubs on the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, the former US president, who wants to enter the White House for the Republicans for a second time in November, played with real estate investor and party donor Steve Witkoff.
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