As the FBI investigates how the man who attempted to assassinate former US President Donald Trump knew he would be at his golf course yesterday, the intelligence organization's former assistant director called the possibility that the would-be assassin had inside information on Trump's schedule "scary."
Chris Swecker spoke to Newsweek about the attempted assassination by Ryan Wesley Routh and questioned how Routh knew Trump would be at the golf course when the outing was not on the former president's schedule. "The biggest question to answer is: 'How did the would-be assassin know to be at that location at that time?'"
According to Swecker, "There are only three possible answers: He guessed and got very lucky; he conducted surveillance on Trump and followed him to the golf course or he had inside information about Trump's schedule."
"The last answer is scary and has implications that another person was involved," he said.
The attempted assassination occurred at the Trump National Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday afternoon while the former president was playing golf. A Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a rifle skitcking out of a fence at the golf course and engaged the would-be assassin.
Palm Beach County, Florida, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said an AK-47 with a scope, two backpacks and a GoPro camera were recovered in the bushes near the golf course.
Bradshaw added that Trump was "probably between" 300-500 yards away from where the armed suspect was spotted.
Martin County Sheriff William D. Snyder said his department’s deputies arrested a suspect in the shooting.
“There was a lone driver in the vehicle. That driver is now in custody,” Snyder said, adding the suspect was “relatively calm” and “not displaying a lot of emotions.”
This is the second attempted assassination of Trump in three months. In July, Trump narrowly escaped assassination when a gunman fired at him during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was shot in the ear, the bullet missing his skull by inches.
Three civilians who attended the rally were also shot, one of whom died.
In August, former Director of the US Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle announced her resignation in the wake of the first attempted assassination of Trump.
Also in August, it was reported that a Pakistani man with alleged ties to the Iranian government was charged for attempting to carry out political assassinations, leading the US government to increase security for former President Donald Trump and other officials. FBI investigators believe Trump and other current and former US officials were the targets of the plot.
Asif Merchant, 46, is accused of traveling to New York City and working with a hitman to execute the assassinations in late August or early September, as per charges filed by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York.
Merchant was arrested on July 12 while preparing to leave the US, prosecutors said, shortly after he met with purported hitmen who he believed would carry out the murders but were actually undercover law enforcement officers. He is currently in federal custody.
The FBI investigated the alleged international murder-for-hire plot in the weeks leading up to a near-assassination attempt on the former president by a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania at one of his rallies. A law enforcement official told CNN that investigators have not found evidence linking Merchant to the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The FBI believes it thwarted Merchant’s plot before any attack could occur. Since his arrest, Merchant has cooperated with investigators, according to US officials. Due to known Iranian threats against Trump, the FBI shared the intelligence with the US Secret Service, which increased security for the former president.
The plot revealed by US prosecutors adds to a growing list of alleged Iranian plans to kill Trump, according to national security officials. The US government has consistently raised concerns about potential Iranian retaliation for a 2020 US drone strike that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a top general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), by targeting Trump or his former advisers.