President Joe Biden said on Monday that the Secret Service needs more personnel after a probable assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump a day earlier.
Speaking to reporters in the morning, Biden said he did not yet have a full report of the Sunday attempt at Trump’s Florida golf course and that he was thankful the former president was fine.
“Thank God the president is OK,” he said, referring to Trump.
“The service needs more help,” Biden told reporters as he departed the White House for Delaware. “Congress should respond to their need.
“They may decide whether they need more personnel or not.”
Addressing the 2024 National HBCU Week Conference in Delaware, Biden repeated his earlier message and said that the agency is conducting its evaluation to determine whether any adjustments are necessary.
“An acting head of the Secret Service is in Florida today, assessing what happened and determining if any further adjustments need to be made to ensure the safety of our former president,” Biden told the crowd.
The president said that political violence “solves nothing.”
“In America, we resolve our differences peacefully at the ballot box and not at the end of a gun,” he said.
“America has suffered too many times the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet. It solves nothing and just tears the country apart. We must do everything we can to prevent it and never give it any oxygen.”
Biden isn’t the only elected U.S. official calling for more Secret Service resources since the second assassination attempt on Trump.
The FBI told The Epoch Times on Sunday that it is investigating the incident as an “apparent assassination attempt,” and few details have been released by the agency since then.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and other law enforcement officials said at a news conference around the same time that Secret Service agents encountered the alleged shooter after discovering a rifle muzzle sticking through a chain-link fence on the outer perimeter of the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach County, Florida. The agent then engaged with the suspect, who fled the scene, according to the officials.
Ryan Routh has been identified as the suspect. He faces felony gun charges in connection to the incident, the Department of Justice said.
Photos released during the news conference showed an SKS-style rifle, a GoPro camera, and two backpacks near the fence. One of the photos appeared to show the rifle sticking through the fence.
Posts made by Routh, 58, show that he was an avid supporter of Ukraine in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and also had made critical comments about the former president, according to an Epoch Times review of his social media accounts.
Trump survived an assassination attempt in July as he was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, after his right ear was struck. One person died and two others were injured in the shooting, which the FBI said was carried out by Thomas Matthew Crooks.
On Sunday, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said they were briefed about the probable assassination attempt in Florida, with both saying they were grateful that Trump wasn’t harmed.
“I am deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt of former President Trump today. As we gather the facts, I will be clear: I condemn political violence. We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence,” said Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.
She said that she commends the Secret Service and law enforcement “for their vigilance” and that the Biden administration “will ensure the Secret Service has every resource, capability, and protective measure necessary to carry out its critical mission.”
Trump, meanwhile, thanked law enforcement and the Secret Service for their response in a Truth Social post issued late Sunday.
Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), also expressed gratitude that Trump had not been hurt.
“I’m glad President Trump is safe,” Vance wrote on X.
“I spoke to him before the news was public and he was, amazingly, in good spirits. Still much we don’t know, but I’ll be hugging my kids extra tight tonight and saying a prayer of gratitude.”
