The Daily Signal - Second Assassination Attempt on Trump, DeSantis Calls for State Investigation, Media Blames Trump | Sept. 16

Starting point is 00:00:00 A second shooter tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump yesterday. I'm Elizabeth Mitchell, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Monday, September 16th. For the second time in just over two months, a gunman has attempted to assassinate former president Donald Trump. While Trump was golfing Sunday at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida, authorities said that a man put the muzzle of a rifle through a chain-link fence around the next hole. According to Fox News, the man was between 300 and 500 yards from Toronto. Trump. When he put his gun through the fence, a Secret Service agent or agents opened fire. According to the New York Post, the man had a GoPro camera hanging on the fence, which likely was intended to be used to record the shooting on the video. The man fled in a car and was

Starting point is 00:00:54 later pulled over and arrested when someone took a photo of the license plate and texted it to authorities. Fox News reported, the New York Post citing unnamed law enforcement sources, said the alleged gunman was identified as Ryan Ruth. Ruth bashed Trump in an April 23, post on X, in which he declared democracy is on the ballot and we cannot lose. Trump made a social media post shortly after the shooting, saying there were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear it first. I am safe and well. Nothing will slow me down. I will never surrender. I will always love you for supporting me. Unity, peace, make America great again. That's what Trump said after the attempted assassination.

Starting point is 00:01:36 Florida governor Ron DeSantis announced Sunday that his state would conduct its own investigation into the second assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump. DeSantis posted on X shortly after the shooting, saying, The State of Florida will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at Trump International Golf Club. The people deserve the truth about the would-be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee. DeSantis later said at a news conference that, while the federal government would be investigating the assassination attempt, he thinks it's important that his state be involved as well. I have not talked to him yet. I did announce yesterday we're going to be doing a state level investigation. I understand that the feds are involved, but we do believe

Starting point is 00:02:23 that there were multiple violations of state law. We also believe that there's a need to make sure that the truth about all this comes out in a way that's credible. I mean, I look at the federal government with all due respect to them, you know, those same agencies that are prosecuting Trump in that jurisdiction are now going to be investigating this. I just think that that may not be the best thing for this country. Nevertheless, they have their prerogative, but we have our prerogative. And so we'll be making an announcement further along those lines in the ensuing days. After the second assassination attempt on Trump on Sunday in Florida, the former president said in an interview with Fox News Digital that the arrested suspect,

Starting point is 00:03:05 in the shooting, Ryan Wesley Ruth believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris and acted on it. Trump said that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' 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. Many in the media are blaming Trump for the shooting. Federalist editor Sean Davis blasted the media for blaming the assassination attempts on Trump. He wrote our next. Trump has nearly been assassinated twice now, and regime media, who are deliberately inciting the violence, have decided it's Trump's fault that deranged Democrats keep trying to murder him.

Starting point is 00:03:47 A day after the second assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, released a whistleblower report on the Secret Services failures in the first assassination attempt on the 45th president, including failures that have not been reported on previously. The Daily Signals, Fred Lucas, covered this today. Fred, what was in this report? Yeah, it was pretty interesting. 22 pages, but some pretty beefy information.

Starting point is 00:04:16 One thing that really stuck out to me, I think, is reading a quote here. The whistleblower stated that if a personnel from the counter-surveillance division, that's of the Secret Service, had been present at the rally, the gunman would have been handcuffed in the parking lot after being spotted. That, I think, takes it home as much as anything that where the Secret Service dropped the ball on several efforts. Absolutely. And Holly said that the hospital where Trump was treated was even poorly secured. Could you tell us about that?

Starting point is 00:04:49 Yeah, it was poorly secured. The personnel at the hospital, there wasn't enough Secret Service there. And that even gets back to the rally itself. The rally, not only was not adequately secured, but the report says that the person, the lead agent in charge of security there, was, had been deemed incompetent in previous evaluations by the Secret Service. So it was a failed operation all around. Another thing that jumped out in this is that ties back directly to what we heard yesterday in Florida, which is that Trump did not have adequate security because, as, well, he's not the incumbent. And we've been hearing that, too.

Starting point is 00:05:34 This report mentions that, that the whistleblower said that they were told that because Trump is a former president, not the incumbent president, not a vice president, therefore he's not entitled to as much security as some of these agents within the secret service had even suggested. So we're seeing a lesson was apparently not learned after this is that. attempt. That's really interesting. The report further highlights that neither the Secret Service nor the Department of Homeland Security provided answers about who made the decision to deny counter-sniper coverage to the rooftop where the Pennsylvania shooter shot Trump. Is that correct?

Starting point is 00:06:17 Yeah, that's correct. The Secret Service did get backed with us today in their response to the data signal, only to say that they are cooperating with all congressional oversight. That is actually the opposite of what Josh Holly says in the report, though, which is that most of the questions that they inquires that they made to the Secret Service have not gone answered.

Starting point is 00:06:40 So I think it might be the case that perhaps the Secret Service feels compelled to respond to questions from a House majority, but maybe not from a member in the Senate minority. Did the Secret Service answer questions regarding reports that the Secret Service

Starting point is 00:06:58 Service denied the Trump campaign the requested resources? No, no, they haven't. At least not from Holly in this report. He has forwarded this over to the House task force that was appointed that bipartisan task force that was appointed by Speaker Johnson. Interesting. So, I mean, they could follow up on this and they would have the capacity to compel answers on these questions.

Starting point is 00:07:21 Awesome. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the Daily Signal Top News. Be sure to check out our morning show in this podcast feed where we interview lawmakers, experts, and leading conservative voices. Tomorrow, I will be sitting down with parental rights advocate Nicole Solos about her ongoing battles with teachers unions and gender ideology in her

Starting point is 00:07:45 child's public school. Make sure you subscribe to the Daily Signal wherever you listen to podcasts and help us reach more listeners by leaving us a five-star rating and review. Thank you so much for listening. Have a good night and we'll be back with you in the morning. The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Blewey and Katrina Trinko. Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein, Tyler O'Neill, and Elizabeth Mitchell. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, John Pop, and Joseph Von Spakovsky. To learn more or support our work, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - Second Assassination Attempt on Trump, DeSantis Calls for State Investigation, Media Blames Trump | Sept. 16

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