Trump’s golf partner says he was five yards away from the former president when shots rang out

Former President Trump’s golf partner reacted to a second apparent assassination attempt on the 2024 GOP nominee’s life Monday on “Hannity.” Steve Witkoff, a New York real estate investor, told Fox News host Sean Hannity he was playing golf with Trump Sunday afternoon when the former president was evacuated from his West Palm Beach golf course after shots rang out. And the reason I feel blessed, Sean, is that I got to see what it’s like for my dear friend to live his normal life. His normal life, which is punctuated by two attempts to assassinate him in the last 60 days, being vilified since he left the presidency, falsely accused [and] harassed,” Witkoff said. “Here he was yesterday on a beautiful day, just trying to get some rest and relaxation like all the rest of us, and there’s a man with an…assault rifle who’s attempting to kill him. I got to see a man who was stoic, courageous, cared about his friends’ safety first before his own life. The suspect in the apparent assassination attempt, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh , was charged Monday with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and having a firearm with an obliterated serial number. A Secret Service advance agent spotted what appeared to be a rifle poking out of the tree line near Trump’s golf course and opened fire, causing Routh to run away. He was stopped and detained by local law enforcement about 45 minutes after fleeing the scene, according to a criminal complaint released by the Department of Justice. Cell phone records also allege that Routh was in the vicinity of the golf course tree line for about 12 hours, from roughly 2 a.m. to 1:31 p.m. TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SUSPECT LAUGHS, SMILES DURING FIRST COURT APPEARANCE IN FLORIDA Agents recovered a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a bag containing food near the tree line area from which Routh fled, according to the complaint. Witkoff said as a gun owner, he knew immediately he had heard gunfire. They had the president secured, in my estimation, because I was five yards away from him, in my estimation, maybe after the first shot, certainly after the second shot. So, by the time the fourth shot rang out, the president was on his way with that detail,” he explained. Ronald Rowe, Jr., the US Secret Service acting director, told reporters Monday that Routh did not have a line of sight to Trump, and he did not get any shots off. “With reports of gunfire, the former president’s close protection detail immediately evacuated the president to a safe location. The increased assets directed by the president, by President Biden, were in place yesterday,” Rowe said. BODYCAM VIDEO CAPTURES ARREST OF TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SUSPECT Rowe added that since the assassination attempt on former President Trump in Butler, Pa., in July, the Secret Service has moved to increase assets to an “already enhanced security posture” for the 2024 GOP nominee. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “I have, like, a little love thing for my dear friend. And I say to myself, thank God that he was not injured or killed, and thank God none of the other people. There were plenty of civilians, by the way, staffers from his office, people who care about him just as much as I do, two other friends of his, so there could have been a lot of really serious damage out there, and there wasn’t,” he said. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.foxnews.com/media/trumps-golf-partner-says-he-five-yards-away-from-former-president-when-shots-rang-out