A man suspected of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump was charged with two gun-related crimes in federal court on Monday, a day after he was seen with a weapon in the bushes at the former US president's golf resort in Florida. According to a criminal complaint filed on Monday, phone records show that the suspect could have waited nearly 12 hours camping out with weapons and food. This was reported by Reuters, according to UNN.
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Although new charges are likely, the initial ones - possession of a firearm as a previously convicted felon and possession of a firearm with a removed serial number - allow him to be held in custody pending investigation. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in the November 5 election, was not injured. But the incident has raised new questions about how the armed suspect was able to get close to him, just two months after another attacker shot at Trump during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, wounding his ear.
The U.S. Secret Service opened fire after an agent spotted a rifle barrel sticking out of the bushes on Sunday at Trump's golf resort in West Palm Beach, a few hundred meters from where the former president was playing. According to the complaint, the armed man fled in an SUV. Officers found a loaded assault rifle with a scope, a digital camera and a bag of food left at the scene.
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The suspect, identified on Monday as 58-year-old Ryan Rouse, was apprehended about 40 minutes later as he was traveling north on Interstate 95. When asked if he knew why he was stopped, Rouse “responded in the affirmative,” according to the complaint. The license plate on his car was registered as stolen from another car.
Records show that a phone linked to Rouse was at the golf resort from 1:59 am (0559 GMT) on Sunday, 11.5 hours before the incident. According to the criminal complaint, Rouse has at least two prior felony convictions in North Carolina. In 2002, Rouse pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered automatic weapon, which North Carolina law defines as a weapon of mass destruction, and was sentenced to probation. In 2010, he was convicted of possession of stolen property.
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Trump's campaign schedule will remain unchanged, according to a source familiar with the matter. Trump plans to unveil a new cryptocurrency business on social network X on Monday night, as well as hold a town hall meeting in Michigan on Tuesday and a rally in New York on Wednesday.
Trump accused President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, of attempting to assassinate him. He claimed that the suspected assailant was influenced by the Democrats' “very provocative language,” although authorities have not yet provided evidence of any motive.
“Their rhetoric is causing me to come under fire, whereas I am the one who is saving the country, and they are the ones who are destroying the country - both from within and without,” he said, according to Fox.
On Sunday, Harris wrote on the social network X: “Violence has no place in America.” Speaking at an event in Philadelphia on Monday, Biden said: “In America, we settle our differences peacefully at the polls, not with guns.”
Новий замах: Трамп вважає, що винна риторика Байдена і Гарріс16.09.24, 20:36