Consider This from NPR - Another attempt was made on Trump's life. What do we know?

Episode Date: September 16, 2024

Former President Donald Trump was targeted in what "appears to be an attempted assassination" on Sunday afternoon, the FBI says.What do we know about the suspect, his motivations, and what this could mean for the rest of the 2024 election?For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It seems to have happened again. So we've just been getting an update from officials on those shots fired on the same golf course where Donald Trump, he was golfing at the time on the fifth hole. He later said that he heard popping sounds. Just over two months after former President Trump survived an attempt on his life during a Pennsylvania rally, federal authorities say Trump was possibly the target of another assassination attempt on Sunday at his Florida golf course. Florida authorities now have in custody 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Ruth. Details about Ruth continue to emerge. Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw said yesterday that Trump was about 300 to 400 yards away when a Secret Service agent saw the alleged

gunman. NPR's Greg Allen reports that the agent fired first at Ruth, who fled and left behind an SKS-style rifle with a scope that could have put Trump within range. Ryan Wesley Ruth has a record of arrests mostly for minor offenses, but he also has a felony on his record for illegally possessing a machine gun. Ruth appeared Monday in a packed West Palm Beach federal courtroom. His motive has not been stated. Consider this. In just barely over two months, there appear to have been two attempts to end former President Trump's life in this final stretch before the 2024 presidential election. Coming up, what we know so far about the latest suspect and where the investigation stands. From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang.

It's Consider This from NPR. The man arrested after an apparent assassination attempt on former President Trump on Sunday had his first court appearance on Monday. Ryan Ruth is being held on two felony firearms charges. NPR's Greg Allen was at today's hearing and spoke to my co-host Ari Shapiro. So Ruth apparently waited in hiding at Trump's golf club with an SKS-style rifle for nearly 12 hours. What does that tell us? Well, you know, there have been a lot of questions about how Ruth knew Trump would be on the golf course yesterday. The former president's schedule and his whereabouts hadn't been publicly released. And there's a lot about this we don't know yet. But we do know that when he's at Mar-a-Lago, Trump golfs on the weekend at his West Palm Beach golf club quite often.

So it does seem possible that Ruth may have just shown up and staked out a place where Trump often is expected to be. And this appears to be the second attempt on former President Trump's life in just two months. The Secret Service received a lot of criticism after the first one. Tell us about the role of the Secret Service this time. Right. Well, you know, in that shooting at the rally in Pennsylvania, in which an audience member was killed and Trump was wounded, the Secret Service was harshly criticized for missing signals and failing to act quickly. In this case, while Trump was golfing, a Secret Service agent scouted the holes ahead of where he was playing.

And when the agent spotted a gun barrel protruding from bushes on the perimeter of the golf course yesterday, he began immediately firing. That caused the alleged gunman to flee, leaving behind an SKS-style rifle, two backpacks, and a GoPro camera mounted on the fence to apparently record the shooting. Police arrested Ruth about 45 minutes later as he fled north in his vehicle on Interstate 95. And we also learned today that his license plate on the vehicle was from a different car that had been reported stolen. Well, tell us about the first court appearance that he had today. Yes, well, he was, you know, he's a slender man with blonde hair. He was in court wearing a Navy prison jumpsuit and was shackled the whole time he was in court.

His demeanor, he was respectful, as he was questioned by Magistrate Judge Ryan McCabe. He told the judge he has a $3,000 monthly income and owns two trucks in Hawaii but had no other funds or savings. The judge said, from what I'm hearing, you have little or no assets, and that he did qualify for a federal public defender, and a public defender was on hand there today representing him. And tell us more about the charges against him. Well, he hasn't been formally charged yet. An arraignment has been set for September 30th, but it's likely we'll see a federal indictment sometime between now and then laying out the charges against him. For now, Ruth is being held on two charges, illegal possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm

that had an obliterated serial number. In court today, the federal prosecutor expressed concerns that Ruth was a flight risk and a possible threat to the community, and that will all be fleshed out in a pretrial detention hearing set for next week. Well, the FBI is calling this an apparent assassination attempt on Trump. What can you tell us about what Ruth's motivations might have been? Well, he had a long history of run-ins with law enforcement authorities, both in North Carolina and in Hawaii. In North Carolina, he had two felony convictions for illegally possessing a machine gun and for possessing stolen goods. He worked as a roofing contractor. But his political leanings appeared to have been all over the place. On social media, he said he supported Trump in

2016, but he later expressed support for other candidates, including Nikki Haley and Kamala Harris. In fact, records show he voted in the Democratic primary in North Carolina just this past March. But he was most active around the cause of providing support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. The New York Times interviewed him last year about his efforts to recruit people, including former Afghan soldiers, to fight in Ukraine. Ruth himself didn't have any military experience, but he did say on social media he was willing to fight and die in Ukraine. Just briefly, how has Trump reacted to all of this? Well, you know, we believe he's still at his private club here in Palm Beach at Mar-a-Lago.

He's had only praise for the work of the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies, saying that they were positively outstanding. Today, in an interview with Fox News, he laid some of the blame for the attack, though, on President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. He says their charges that he represents a threat to democracy is inflammatory language and is, quote, causing me to be shot at. Of course, Trump has used inflammatory and racist language himself against immigrants and his own political opponents. That's NPR's Greg Allen in West Palm Beach, Florida. Thanks. You're welcome. Next, we turn to my co-host, Juana Summers, who spoke with NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas, who's following the investigation.

So, Ryan, what can you tell us? What's the latest from that briefing today? Well, the suspect, Ryan Wesley Ruth, was taken into custody just over 24 hours ago. So it is still very much early in this investigation. But FBI Special Agent Jeff Veltri told reporters that the FBI is digging into Ruth's life. They're aggressively trying to figure out everything that they can about him. They've executed search warrants for his cellular phones, his car, electronic devices in places where he's lived. They've interviewed seven civilian witnesses who were on the scene. Agents in Hawaii, in North Carolina, where Ruth had lived, are interviewing friends, old colleagues, family. Agents are also

combing through Ruth's pretty extensive social media history. He's very active online. And agents will also try to piece together, to reconstruct his movements in the hours, days, and weeks leading up to what happened yesterday at the golf course. As you said, Ruth was in federal court today. He faces two gun charges as of now, but he could face additional charges, of course, in the days to come. Ryan, let's talk about that weapon, the gun that they recovered. Do authorities have a sense of how he got it? Well, this was an SKS-style rifle, a semi-automatic. Agents recovered it at the scene along with a digital camera, a plastic food with bag as well, and a couple of other things. The FBI said that the gun's serial number, though, was destroyed. And that, of course,

is going to make tracing the gun and figuring out where Ruth got it more difficult. It's going to take more time. But there are two other things in this investigation that have caught my eye. Court papers say that the Nissan SUV that Ruth was driving when he was pulled over had stolen license plates on it. And another thing is that court papers say the cell phone usage data indicates that Ruth was in the bushes or the tree line along Trump's golf course for 12 hours from 2 a.m. until the time he was finally seen by Secret Service in the early afternoon. All of that points to a degree of planning, of premeditation that raises a lot of questions,

including, of course, whether he was acting alone. The FBI says they are taking a look at that question, but they don't have any information at this point that Ruth had any accomplices. And what about the Secret Service? What has the Secret Service had to say about its role in all of this? Well, the Secret Service, of course, came under a lot of criticism after that attempted assassination in Pennsylvania two months ago. Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe is in Florida now. He addressed reporters at this news conference. Here's a bit of what he had to say. Yesterday afternoon, this country was reminded of the heightened and dynamic threat environment the United States Secret Service and its protectees face on a daily basis. Now, Rohde defended the Secret Service's actions yesterday. He said Trump's protective detail has been beefed up significantly

since the assassination attempt a couple of months ago. He said it is at the highest level now. In the case yesterday, a Secret Service agent on Trump's protective detail was walking the perimeter of the course. The agent saw what looked like a rifle poking out of the bushes, opened fire. A witness then saw a man, later identified as Ruth, flee the bushes, jump out of there, the tree line, jump into a Nissan SUV and speed away. Local officers located the car on the highway and pulled him over. Now, Roe said Trump was not originally supposed to go to the golf course. It was an unplanned thing. But he said the gunman never had a line of sight on Trump, never got a shot off. So he said the Secret Services processes here worked and it worked as designed. Is there anything specific you're keeping an eye on as this investigation moves forward? Motive, and of course, whether there were any accomplices or whether he acted alone.

NPR Justice Correspondent Ryan Lucas, thank you. Thank you. This episode was produced by Mark Rivers with audio engineering by Ted Meebane. It was edited by Jeanette Woods, Courtney Dorning, and Patrick Jaron Watanon. Our executive producer is Sammy Yannigan. And one more thing before we go, you can now enjoy the Consider This newsletter. We still help you break down a major story of the day, but you'll also get to know our producers and hosts and some moments of joy from the All Things Considered team. You can sign up at npr.org slash consider this newsletter. It's Consider This from NPR.

I'm Elsa Chang.