Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: After the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life on Sunday, US President Joe Biden held a “cordial” phone call with his predecessor and the Republican Party’s nominee who is trying to reoccupy the White House after the November 5 presidential election, the media reported.
The phone call on Monday came a day after the former President blamed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ “rhetoric” for attempts on his life. “Bullets are flying and it will only get worse,” Trump said.
“President Biden just spoke with former President Trump and conveyed his relief that he is safe. The two shared a cordial conversation and former President Trump expressed his thanks for the call,” stated an email quoting a White House official on Monday.
During his speech at the National HBCU Week Conference in Philadelphia, President Biden cited America’s history of political violence and how it has “suffered” from assassination attempts.
On Monday, Trump appeared on Fox News Digital to discuss the Sunday incident, which came after the first attempted assassination of him during his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
He said the accused (Ryan Wesley Routh) “believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it. Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country—both from the inside and out.”
Trump was at his Florida golf course on Sunday when a Secret Service agent caught a suspect and an AK-47 rifle was found in the nearby bushes. Suspect Ryan Routh has been charged with illegal possession of firearms, but officials clarified he did not fire any shot.
US Attorney Markenzy Lapointe stated in a press conference on Monday that a US Secret Service agent observed what looked to be a rifle “poking out of the tree line” while policing the golf club’s perimeter.
Lapointe was referring to claims made in a complaint against Routh, who tried to run away but was caught in Martin County, Florida, north of Palm Beach County. The FBI is probing the matter as a potential “assassination attempt” on Trump’s life, he said.
According to reports, Routh backed Trump in the 2016 election. However, in 2020, he wrote on social media that he was “disappointed” with Trump and that he was relieved that the president would step down, writing, “I will be glad when you are gone.”
Hours after the second assassination attempt, Trump launched a fierce attack on his Democrat rival Kamala Harris. Dubbing her “Comrade” for propagating “Communist Left rhetoric,” which he said has worsened the political culture in the US, he accused her of lying at the recent “highly partisan” ABC debate–although the US media had pointed out it was Trump who resorted to falsehoods during the debate.
“The rhetoric, lies, as exemplified by the false statements made by Comrade Kamala Harris during the rigged and highly partisan ABC Debate, and all of the ridiculous lawsuits specifically designed to inflict damage on Joe’s, then Kamala’s, Political Opponent, ME, has taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust. Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse,” asserted the former president who had survived another assassination attempt with a bloodied ear in Pennsylvania in July.
He also reiterated his demands to deport illegal immigrants and allow only those who come based on merit. “Allowing millions of people, from places unknown, to invade and take over our Country, is an unpardonable sin. Our borders must be closed, and the terrorists, criminals, and mentally insane, immediately removed from American cities and towns, deported back to their counties of origin,” he said.
Reacting to the fresh assassination attempt, Harris said she was “glad” that Trump was safe and that violence has no place in America.
Trump’s running mate, Vice Presidential hopeful J. D. Vance, also criticized Harris after the Monday morning incident. In an online post, he claimed Harris’ allies have repeatedly called for Trump to be eliminated.
“Kamala Harris has said that “Democracy is on the line” in her race against former President Trump. The gunman agreed and used the same phrase. He had a Kamala Harris bumper sticker on his truck… he donated 19 times to Democrat causes and zero to Republican ones,” said Vance on X (formerly Twitter).
He said that, for years, Kamala Harris’s “campaign surrogates” have said things like “Trump has to be eliminated,” and targeted the US media for a “double standard” on the coverage of the incident.
“The double standard is breathtaking. Donald Trump and I are, by their account, directly responsible for bomb threats from foreign countries. Why? Because we dared to repeat what residents told us about the problems in their town.
Meanwhile, Harris’s allies call for Trump to be eliminated as the media publishes arguments that “he deserved to be shot,” said Vance.