President Donald Trump told an interviewer on Wednesday that he wants more information about the two assassination attempts against him last year—one in Florida and the other in Pennsylvania.
When asked whether he believes that assertion, he said, “I don’t know. ... I don’t know what to believe.”
Federal prosecutors and Secret Service officials have said that the Florida suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, camped out near the Trump International Golf Course for approximately 12 hours before he was spotted pointing a gun barrel through shrubbery at a perimeter fence as Trump was playing golf.
A Secret Service agent opened fire, prompting Routh to flee the scene in a vehicle. He was captured hours later while traveling northbound in another Florida county.
Trump noted that Routh had numerous phones when he was arrested.
“It has not been explained to me perfectly by the Secret Service or the FBI,” the president said of that assassination attempt. “We have somebody, two good people running that, and I would like to hear the explanation.
“Even if it’s not released to the public, I should be allowed to hear it, and I might very well release it to the public.”
Prosecutors said in court papers that officials investigated 18 phones, 17 of which belonged to the suspect. They also said Routh had left behind with an acquaintance materials that said he wanted to assassinate Trump, specifically for the president’s decision during his first term to direct the United States to leave an Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran.
Social media accounts associated with Routh also indicated that he is an ardent supporter of Ukraine in the ongoing war with Russia. He posted videos from Kyiv showing himself at demonstrations. Other accounts indicated that he was trying to recruit people to fight in Ukraine.
Routh is currently in jail on federal charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
He is due in court on the federal charges in September. The lag between his arrest and his next court date was granted to give his attorneys time to review hundreds of hours of footage from police body cameras and surveillance cameras and to review material from Routh’s 17 cellphones and other electronic devices.
If convicted of the attempted assassination charge, Routh could be sentenced to life in prison.
In the assassination attempt in Butler, officials later identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the suspect who fired multiple times at a political rally from his position on a nearby rooftop. One of the shots hit Trump’s ear, and a Butler County man was killed and two were wounded, before Crooks was shot and killed by law enforcement.
The Epoch Times contacted the FBI for comment.
