Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is making US President Joe Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris responsible for the alleged attempted attack on him.
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump told US media Fox News Digital about the arrested suspect.Your rhetoric leads to me being shoteven though I am the one who will save the country and they are the ones who are destroying the country.”
After the shooting at Trump’s golf course in Florida, the Concern about an escalation of political violence large – and could be further fueled by statements like those made by Trump just weeks before the election. The Republican described Biden and Harris as “enemies within” and called them “the real threat.”
A little later, the 78-year-old laid on his platform TruthSocial “Because of this communist left rhetoric, the bullets are flying and it will only get worse!”
On Sunday afternoon (local time), the Secret Service arrested the armed suspect, 58 year old Ryan Wesley Routhwas discovered a few hundred meters from Republican presidential candidate Trump in the bushes at the fence around his golf course in West Palm Beach. Officers shot him. The man reportedly fled in a car and was arrested a short time later on a nearby highway. His exact motive raises further questions.
Charges filed against suspect
Routh was arraigned on Monday morning (local time) in a federal court in Florida Charges filedHe is accused of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obscured serial number, according to a document published by several US media outlets. The man could face further charges, CNN reported, citing a law enforcement official familiar with the matter.
The man wore a dark prison gown and had his feet and hands shackled during his first court appearance, CNN reported. A detention hearing is scheduled for September 23, and the charges are scheduled for September 30.
Only in July there was an attack on Trumpwhen a gunman opened fire on Trump during a campaign rally in the US state of Pennsylvania. The Republican was injured in the ear and a visitor was killed. Security forces killed the gunman, whose motive is still unclear. The incident marked a turning point in the election campaign. Politicians across party lines condemned all political violence.
Warnings of violence – and further accusations
Biden and Harris also stressed after the new incident that there is no place for violence in the USA. It solves nothing and only contributes to division, warned US President Joe Biden at an event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “We must do everything in our power to prevent it, and must never give her oxygen,” said the Democrat.
Motive of perpetrator still unclear
The man’s exact motive was initially unclear. According to media reports, Routh is a construction contractor from the state of North Carolina who made political statements on social networks – including critical comments about Trump. The New York Times reported, citing police sources, that the man had moved to Hawaii.
According to the newspaper, the suspect has publicly advocated support for Ukraine in its defensive struggle against Russia on several occasions. In a post on social media, he wrote that he was ready to fight and die in Ukraine.
Whether there is a connection between his political orientation and the incident in Florida is the subject of the investigation.
Tense mood in the USA
In the USA, the political mood has been tense for years – Trump’s polarizing time in office and in particular the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, are still having an impact today. In January, US Attorney General Merrick Garland denounced increasing threats against public officials and democratic institutions in the country at the start of the election year. Since then, fears that social divisions in the country are deepening seem to have been confirmed.
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Trump (78) will run against Democrat Harris (59), who is currently Biden’s vice president, in the presidential election on November 5. Polls so far indicate a very close race.
Demands for more protection
The incident raises new Questions about the security of the presidential candidates The suspect seems to have managed to get within a few hundred meters of Trump with a rifle. Biden spoke out on Monday in favor of strengthening the Secret Service. Bodyguards need more helphe said. “And I think Congress should respond to that need.” The Republican leader of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, also called for more protection.
Violence against high-ranking politicians has occurred time and again in the USA – even presidents have been targeted several times. In 1865, US President Abraham Lincoln was shot in the box of a theater in the capital Washington while watching a comedy. US President John F. Kennedy was shot in an assassination attempt on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. When President Ronald Reagan was shot in Washington in 1981, a bodyguard threw himself over him to protect him. (dpa)
