A Secret Service whistleblower has made a startling claim about a security lapse at former President Donald Trump’s golf course in Florida, where a would-be assassin was found wielding an AK-47.
The 78-year-old former president was enjoying a round of golf in West Palm Beach on Sunday when Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, allegedly stuck the barrel of his gun through the chain-link fence.
But it was later revealed that agents had seen Routh before the assassination attempt, and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley now says the Secret Service failed to secure the perimeter.
He said it’s not even clear whether the Secret Service searched the area before the Republican presidential candidate stepped onto the field, he told Fox News’ Jesse Watters on Primetime Wednesday night.
If such allegations are true, Hawley said, it would mean Trump’s team failed to follow protocol just two months after a bullet grazed his ear at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley revealed Wednesday night that whistleblowers told him the Secret Service failed to secure the perimeter of Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach.
The former president was playing a round of golf when an eagle-eyed officer noticed the barrel of an AK-47 protruding from the wire fence.
Hawley argued Wednesday that the Secret Service should have been prepared to prevent any assassination attempts at the golf club, which Trump visits frequently.
“The Secret Service has monitored that camp many, many times and what our whistleblower is saying is that protocol requires the Secret Service to place agents in locations in the camp that are known vulnerabilities,” the Missouri senator said.
“I want to point out that the Service has monitored this camp many times, they know where there are vulnerabilities. They usually place agents there before Trump appears in the camp,” he continued.
“They didn’t do that this past weekend, and the complainants tell me that’s strange, that it’s outside of protocol.”
“It’s not even clear whether the Secret Service searched the perimeter before Trump entered the field, which is also a violation of protocol, and they want to know why and so do I,” Hawley said.
The claim comes just months after the Secret Service was criticized for failing to secure a wide enough perimeter around Trump at his July 13 rally in Pennsylvania, where Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate the former president.
Meanwhile, an officer who had seen Routh on the golf course earlier in the day initially thought he was a homeless man. Punchbowl News reporter Mica Soellner reports.
Routh was not handling a firearm at the time, but had a gun at his side, he said.
Officials said Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was on the public side of the perimeter fence at Trump’s golf course when the officer saw the muzzle of the rifle.
He had apparently waited in the area for about 12 hours for a chance to take out Trump.
Officials said Routh was on the public side of the perimeter fence at Trump’s golf course when the agent saw the muzzle of the rifle.
He had waited in the area for about 12 hours for a chance to take out Trump before an eagle-eyed officer spotted the barrel of his AK-47 in the bushes, and officers opened fire and evacuated the former president.
But questions have since been raised about how the suspect was able to get so close to where the president was playing golf.
Routh had been charged with dozens of crimes in the past over a lifetime of misdemeanors and was arrested for everything from grand larceny to hit-and-run to brandishing a weapon of mass destruction.
His behavior was reported to the FBI in 2019, when the agency received a tip that Routh had a firearm despite being a felon. But after questioning, the investigation into Routh was closed.
“What did they do here?” former Secret Service agent Rich Starpoli asked on Fox News. “They went out, they interviewed this guy, they closed the case, they filed it away… What if they called the Secret Service? What if they notified the local police to follow up? But they didn’t.”
Routh faces charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Hawley said officers failed to secure areas around the golf course that were known to be vulnerable.
Trump’s would-be illegal shooter had also traveled to Ukraine in 2022 to support the war effort, but According to the Wall Street JournalRouth acted so erratically that other Americans who knew him alerted U.S. authorities about his behavior.
One woman, a nurse named Chelsea Walsh, had several encounters with Routh in Kyiv in 2022 and reported him to a Customs and Border Protection officer at Washington Dulles Airport in June 2022, saying his threats of violence had worried her.
“This is another egregious case where the FBI was supposed to share information but failed to do so,” Starpoli said.
“Are you telling me that the Secret Service with a budget of $4 billion and 7,000 employees cannot predict and publicize in advance an event that is going to happen on a golf course?” he asked incredulously.
Even Trump himself has expressed concern about the Secret Service’s response, arguing that he needs more agents on his protective team.
“That’s the weakness,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “I think that’s the weakest use: you still need the power of the people.”
“We need more people here,” he told Hannity. “We never seem to get it, and I think we’re getting it now. Someone told me they’re going to provide more people now.”
Trump frequently enjoys a round of golf at the West Palm Beach Golf Course.
Questions have been raised about how the suspect was able to get so close to where the president was playing golf.
Trump went on to praise his personal team, calling them “the best you could find and they did a fantastic job.”
But still, he said, ‘Someone could have missed the barrel of that rifle, or someone who was distracted could have missed the shot or could have been shot.
I mean, frankly, you know, they could have shot me too, but in this case it was something that turned out really well.
Acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe said Monday that Routh was unable to fire a single shot and never had Trump in his “line of sight.”
‘As former President Trump was moving down the fifth fairway, across the course and out of sight of the sixth green, the officer, who was visually sweeping the sixth green area, saw the subject armed with what he perceived to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm,’ the officer said.
The acting director continued to insist that the agency had a security plan for Trump’s golf outing, which he said was not scheduled.
He said agents rushed to set up a security perimeter when Trump decided to play golf at his Florida club on Sunday.
“We put together a security plan and that security plan worked,” he said at a news conference on Monday.
Police are still investigating all the details, including where the suspect obtained the AK-style rifle, his movements before the incident and whether anyone else was involved.
Investigators are now trying to restore the serial number of his AK-47 so they can trace its origin.
Meanwhile, Routh faces charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.