President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump spoke in a “cordial” call on Monday, according to a White House official, following another apparent assassination attempt on Trump on Sunday, which the former President said was caused by Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ “rhetoric”.
“President Biden just spoke with former President Trump, and conveyed his relief that he is safe. The two shared a cordial conversation and former President Trump expressed his thanks for the call,” an email quoting a White House official read on Monday.
During his address at the National HBCU Week Conference in Philadelphia, Biden said, “America has suffered too many times the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet,” referring to the nation’s painful history with political violence.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital on Monday, Trump spoke about the incident, the second of its kind, following the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, saying, “[Ryan Wesley Routh] believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it. Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country—both from the inside and out.”
The former president and the 2024 Republican nominee for president was golfing at his club Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sunday when a U.S. Secret Service agent saw what appeared to be a rifle “poking out of the tree line” while patrolling the perimeter of the golf club, U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe said in a news conference on Monday, referencing allegations in a complaint against Routh.
Lapointe said that the Secret Service agent then fired in the direction of the rifle. According to the complaint, Routh then fled the scene but was later apprehended in Martin County, Florida, just north of Palm Beach County. Lapointe noted that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the incident as an “assassination attempt” against Trump.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House and Trump’s campaign via email on Monday for additional comment.
In the same news conference on Monday, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw also noted that the security level at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago is now the “highest level it could possibly be.”
Routh reportedly supported Trump during the 2016 election, but in 2020, Routh posted that he was “disappointed” in Trump and expressed relief that Trump’s presidency would end, saying, “I will be glad when you gone”.
Routh also self-published a book, Ukraine’s Unwinnable War, where he discussed his political views and criticisms of Trump, among other issues. He further distanced himself from Trump in social media posts, claiming Trump had devolved and labeling him negatively.
With this being the second incident of this nature in one election cycle, Biden emphasized Monday the importance of enhancing protection for key political figures, urging Congress to ensure that the U.S. Secret Service has the necessary resources, suggesting they may need more personnel.
Update 09/16/24 8:07 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
