Mike Johnson, Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Harold Hutchison

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called for “accountability” Monday following the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump this year, saying the country needed to “demand” better protection for the former president.

A Secret Service agent fired shots at a man with a semi-automatic rifle while Trump was playing a round of golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, Sunday, with the alleged gunman being taken into custody by local law enforcement. Johnson praised the agent who thwarted the alleged attempt on Trump’s life but raised concerns about the Secret Service and “manpower allocation.” (RELATED: ‘Scary Times’: Donald Trump Jr Shares Intimate Update After Assassination Attempt)

“I got a briefing from the acting director of the Secret Service, Ron Rowe, within 90 minutes of the event. I was actually sitting with President Trump when he called. We listened to that in detail and what I understand happened is that those agents that were with him yesterday saw that barrel of that gun between the bushes on a golf course,” Johnson said. “I mean, you know, that’s a difficult thing to spot. Thankfully they did, unlike in Butler, they did not pause. They immediately pulled their weapons and fired. I think that’s why this guy, the suspect, the shooter threw the gun in the bushes and ran. Had they not been, had they not acted so quickly and decisively, we might having a different conversation here today.”

WATCH:

Trump was shot and slightly wounded in the right ear during an assassination attempt while giving a speech at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler Township, Pennsylvania, that left former volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore dead.

“President Trump needs the most coverage of anyone. He’s the most attacked, he is the most threatened, even probably more than when he was in the Oval Office,” Johnson continued. “So we are demanding in the house that he have every asset available and we will make more available if necessary. I don’t think it’s a funding issue, I think it’s manpower allocation.”

“Fox and Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade asked if Johnson would look into using Navy SEALs who left active duty to enhance Trump’s security, while also moving the Secret Service from under the Department of Homeland Security.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Johnson said. “We will look at all those things. As you know, I put together in the task force in the immediate wake of the Butler, Pennsylvania, the shocking failures, lapses in security there. There are hearings coming up this month for that — that task force and of course, the Senate has its own homeland security committee looking into it as well. There is going to be reports and recommendations coming forward and Congress will act swiftly. We need accountability. We must demand that this job is being done. I think there are some really patriotic, great people working in the Secret Service, but it’s the leadership. We have no faith — I have no faith in Secretary Mayorkas.” (RELATED: Speaker Mike Johnson Promises ‘Full Investigation’ Into Trump Assassination Attempt)

The alleged gunman has been identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, who appeared before a federal magistrate Monday after being held overnight, The New York Post reported.

From LifeSiteNews

By Matt Lamb

Donald Trump’s attempted assassin Ryan Wesley Routh traveled to Ukraine in 2022 to fight against Russia and tried to recruit Americans to join in the conflict.

The 58-year-old man accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump on Sunday was a pro-Ukraine American who wanted others to join in the fight.

Ryan Wesley Routh is in FBI custody after he allegedly tried to kill Trump on Sunday at the president’s country club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Routh reportedly pushed his AK-47 rifle through a fence at the country club before fleeing when Secret Service opened fired. He was arrested by law enforcement soon after.

He traveled to Ukraine in 2022 to fight against Russia and tried to recruit Americans and ex-Afghanistan soldiers to do the same.

Routh voted for Trump in 2016 but turned against him because of the president’s stance on Ukraine, according to  Newsweek.  “While you were my choice in 2016, I and the world hoped that President Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointed and it seems you are getting worse and devolving,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in July, Newsweek reported.

He donated to a handful of Democrats in 2020, according to reporting from Newsweek. The outlet said Routh “appears to have been motivated by frustration with U.S. policy on the war in Ukraine.”

The New York Times interviewed Routh for a story about ill-trained Americans who wanted to join the fight against Russia for an article titled “Stolen Valor: The U.S. Volunteers in Ukraine Who Lie, Waste and Bicker” with a subhead: “People who would not be allowed anywhere near the battlefield in a U.S.-led war are active on the Ukrainian front, with ready access to American weapons.”

“Ryan Routh, a former construction worker from Greensboro, N.C., is seeking recruits from among Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban,” the Times reported in 2023. “Mr. Routh, who spent several months in Ukraine last year, said he planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine. He said dozens had expressed interest.”

“We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan, since it’s such a corrupt country,” he told the newspaper.

He did not actually fight because he was too old and inexperienced, Newsweek reported. Its Romania affiliate had also interviewed Routh several years ago.

“The question as far as why I’m here… to me, a lot of the other conflicts are grey, but this conflict is definitely black and white,” Routh told Newsweek Romania. “This is about good versus evil. This is a storybook, you know, any movie we’ve ever watched, this is definitely evil against good.”

“If the governments will not send their official military, then we, civilians, have to pick up the torch and make this thing happen and we have gotten some wonderful people here but it is a small fraction of the number that should be here,” Routh said.

He reportedly ran a group called the “International Volunteer Center in Ukraine,” according to a 2023 Semafor article. “I have had partners meeting with [Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense] every week and still have not been able to get them to agree to issue one single visa,” Routh said.

The International Legion in Ukraine said it has no links to Routh, as reported recently by Reuters.

Routh had a sketchy past, including reportedly barricading himself inside a building while armed in 2002, the News and Record reported.

“The arrest coincides with North Carolina criminal court records that include Routh’s conviction for possession of a weapon of mass destruction,” NBC News reported.

“Records also show convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, possession of stolen property and hit-and-run,” NBC reported. “In those cases, which included misdemeanor convictions for violations such as resisting an officer and driving on a suspended license, the defendant received a suspended sentence and parole or probation.”

Trump thanks law enforcement, calls it an ‘interesting day’

Late last night Trump put out a message on Truth Social thanking law enforcement and calling Sunday an “interesting day.”

“I would like to thank everyone for your concern and well wishes – It was certainly an interesting day!” he wrote.

“Most importantly, I want to thank the U.S. Secret Service, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and his Office of brave and dedicated Patriots, and, all of Law Enforcement, for the incredible job done today at Trump International in keeping me, as the 45th President of the United States, and the Republican Nominee in the upcoming Presidential Election, SAFE. THE JOB DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”