Many Georgia lawmakers and politicians were reluctant late Sunday to immediately weigh in on what the FBI said was an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reached out for comment.
The Republican presidential nominee said he was safe and well just nine weeks after he survived an earlier attempt on his life.
According to The Associated Press, a man on Sunday pointed an AK-style assault rifle equipped with a scope through a fence at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., as the former president played golf.
U.S. Secret Service agents posted a few holes up from where Trump was playing noticed the muzzle of the rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away.
An agent fired and the gunman dropped the rifle and fled in an SUV, leaving the firearm behind along with two backpacks, a scope used for aiming and a GoPro camera, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.
Authorities identified Ryan Wesley Routh as the gunman and said he was arrested in a neighboring county. They were working to determine a motive.
U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, was among the first Georgia Republicans to react on social media to the shooting. He called for supporters to “pray for President Donald J. Trump.”
“We’re glad to hear that former President Trump is safe and unharmed,” Gov. Brian Kemp wrote on X. “[We’re] grateful for the law enforcement officers working to keep him and his family safe. Join us in continuing to pray for our country.”
After being briefed on the incident, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were “relieved” to know Trump was safe, the White House said.
Biden later said there was “no place” for political violence in the United States and directed that the Secret Service has “every resource” to protect Trump.
Trump’s running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance, said in a post on X that he spoke with the former president “before the news was public and he was, amazingly, in good spirits.”
It was the latest jarring moment in a campaign year marked by unprecedented upheaval.
On July 13, Trump was shot during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a bullet grazed his ear. Eight days later, Biden withdrew from the race, giving way for Harris to become the Democratic Party’s nominee.
Trump, meanwhile, sent out a fundraising email that reads: “My resolve is only stronger after another attempt on my life.”
