To be fair, this may be a matter of activist law enforcement covering it up as the news apparently was dropped via text message with the county sheriff. But one would think this would still make national news at some point and it’s been nearly a full day since the incident.

According to The Epoch Times:

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department arrested an armed man who allegedly said he wanted to “kill the president” outside the perimeter of a Trump rally on Oct. 12, Sheriff Chad Bianco told The Epoch Times in a text message on Sunday.

“We arrested a man trying to get in the perimeter with two firearms who ended up saying he was going to kill the president,” Bianco said in the text.

The arrest occurred in the wake of two previous alleged assassination attempts on Trump, the first on July 13 when a shooter’s bullet grazed his ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the second at the former president’s golf course in Florida in mid-September.

Further details of the California arrest were not immediately available.

Another man, an Iraqi national, who was singled out as a “hit” by police dogs trained to identify explosives, was also turned away from the event, Bianco said.

An armed man who claims he wants to assassinate a presidential candidate was arrested outside of one of that candidate’s rallies. That should be national news. Let’s see if we’re just ahead of the curve or if corporate media will bury it.

The former first lady said during a “Fox & Friends” interview that it is expected that two would-be assassins would threaten her husband’s life since members of the left-wing media repeatedly call him a “threat to democracy.” She further accused the media of becoming silent about the two assassination attempts not long after they occurred, leading her to ask more questions about the incidents.

“It’s interesting how quiet everything became all over the mainstream media. There were a few days they were reporting about July 13 event, and everything then became quiet. So I had a lot of questions, what’s going on? This is not normal,” Melania said. “And, is it really shocking that all this egregious violence goes against my husband, especially that we hear the leaders from the opposition party and mainstream media branding him as a threat to democracy, calling him vile names. They’re only fueling a toxic atmosphere and giving power to all of these people that want to do harm to him. This needs to stop.”

Melania said she rushed to the television when she first learned of the first assassination attempt on her husband during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. She initially received no answer from either her husband or the Secret Service when she tried calling them, but then received notice that Trump was safe.

Her son, Barron Trump, came rushing in when he received the news about the first attempt and had a “very, very difficult” discussion with his mother, she said.

The former first lady said she was in New York City during the second assassination attempt on Sept. 15, prompting her to call the Secret Service to make sure her husband was safe. She said the former president’s survival during the attempts are “miracles” and that a divine power saved his life so he could serve the U.S.

“I think both of the events, they were really miracles,” Melania said. “If you really think about it, July 13 was a miracle. Like that much and he could not be with us … I think something was watching over him. I think, it’s almost like the country really needs him.”

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the first would-be assassin, climbed onto the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building located 130 feet away from the rally and shot eight rounds into the crowd. The shooting injured the upper portion of Trump’s ear and killed 50-year-old Corey Comperatore.

The second assassination attempt occurred on Sept. 15 when 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh was spotted with an AK-47-style rifle at the former president at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

As is so often the case after high-profile incidents involving the criminal misuse of firearms, a lot of gun control activists immediately took to the internet with their “hot takes,” declining to wait for correct information to come to light or to analyze whether their initial gut feelings had any relationship to reality.

And, as usual, many of these immediate hot takes really missed the mark. Here are three of the most common assertions erroneously made in the days following the second known attempt to assassinate Trump.

1. This happened because of “weak” gun laws.

Right on cue, many major gun control organizations insinuated that “weak gun laws” were to blame not only for the assassination attempt but basically for all social ills.

As with the first assassination attempt on Trump, these groups made no effort to explain which of their much-touted “stronger” gun laws, specifically, would’ve prevented this individual from committing this specific criminal act, or how.

Since he is 58 years old, the second gunman’s actions certainly wouldn’t have been hindered by age-based restrictions on gun sales.

Nor was the gunman’s attempt to kill Trump facilitated by Florida’s recent change to its permitless public carry law, which (to the chagrin of gun control activists hoping to place as many barriers as possible between ordinary Americans and their rights) authorizes all non-prohibited adults to carry concealed handguns in public after first obtaining special licenses.

Not only was the gunman a convicted felon who couldn’t lawfully possess any firearm, much less carry one in public, but Florida law continues to prohibit the open carrying of long guns in public places.

Moreover, no reasonable person believes that a highly motivated criminal willing to commit premeditated murder with an illegally possessed rifle would have been dissuaded from doing so just because of public carry restrictions.

Moreover, as with the first gunman who attempted to assassinate Trump (at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania), there’s no evidence that Florida’s supposedly lax public carry laws confused Trump’s security detail or led it initially to downplay the severity of the threat posed by a rifle-wielding man setting up a sniper’s nest several hundred yards from a former president and current presidential candidate.

Looking at the standard “wish list” of laws supported by gun control activists, the only proposal that might plausibly come into play is their desire to eliminate private intrastate gun sales—i.e., “universal background checks.” For several reasons, however, it seems unlikely that a federal version of that law would have mattered.

It’s not yet clear precisely when or how the gunman in Florida got his rifle. But since he’d been a prohibited person for more than two decades, we can safely assume he didn’t buy it from a licensed seller within the past 20 years.

Several other possibilities remain. He may have lawfully purchased the rifle prior to becoming a prohibited person and illegally retained possession of it. That would hardly be surprising, as even states such as California—with their universal gun registration laws—struggle to confiscate guns from tens of thousands of prohibited persons whom officials know failed to surrender their previously lawfully possessed guns.

In theory, the gunman also could have purchased the rifle via a private intrastate sale by an unlicensed seller who acted in good faith, not knowing the buyer’s status as a prohibited person.

Such a sale still would have been completely illegal on the gunman’s part. It also would mean that he most likely kept the rifle stored somewhere (or with someone) in North Carolina after moving to Hawaii. Taking it back-and-forth from one of the nation’s most restrictive gun states would’ve required him to formally declare the rifle with an airline, an incredibly high-risk move for a convicted felon.

To be even quasi-legal, such a private gun sale also must have occurred prior to 2018, when the gunman moved to a state that effectively bans private sales.

In fact, if the gunman took possession of the rifle within the past six years, it by definition was through an illegal sale. No, he couldn’t just bypass Hawaii’s de facto prohibition on private sales by buying a gun in another state—at least not legally. Interstate sales must be conducted by licensed sellers, who are legally obligated to conduct background checks and ensure a sale complies with all laws of the buyer’s state of residency.

Most likely, however, the gunman either bought the rifle “off the street” in an illicit, black-market transaction with a seller who knew or didn’t care whether he was a prohibited person or he obtained it through an illegal straw purchaser.

Authorities said the serial number on the gunman’s rifle had been obliterated, an illegal technique commonly employed by black-market dealers and straw purchasers because it significantly hinders the ability of law enforcement to trace the weapon back to its last transaction through a federal firearms licensee—and thereby potentially work out a chain of custody that could incriminate the dealer or straw purchaser.

Finally, even if the gunman got his rifle through an otherwise lawful private sale, it’s quite the stretch to suggest that he could not just as easily have gotten it the same way as the vast majority of criminals—illegal black-market sales by people lacking any motivation or incentive to abide by federal gun sale laws.

2. The gunman used an “assault-style” AK-47 rifle.

Perhaps one of the most commonly repeated gun control talking points is that the gunman in Florida used an “assault weapon,” allegedly demonstrating why we should ban these firearms.

To be fair, this seems to stem from the fact that many major media outlets repeatedly have mischaracterized the gunman’s SKS rifle as an “AK-47” or “AK-style” gun, likely due to ignorance.

Based on photos released by law enforcement and other official documents, the rifle at issue seems to be a semiautomatic SKS platform that’s been mildly “sporterized” from its original World War II-era design. The most notable modifications were replacing the straight stock with what appears to be an Anschutz grip and substituting the internal box magazine for a detachable one.

The differences between an SKS platform and AK platform are more than just technical specifics or mere semantics.

For purposes of the “assault weapons” debate, the differences are inherently legal.

Typically, the statutory distinction between a prohibited “assault weapon” and its “non-assault counterpart” is the presence of one or more specific “military-style” features, such as a collapsing stock, barrel shroud, pistol grip, or vertical foregrip. Although an AK platform utilizes a pistol grip (rendering it, for statutory and “visual” purposes, an “assault weapon”), the gunman’s SKS-platform bears none of these prohibited features.

To the extent the rifle qualifies as an “assault weapon” under any current state law, it’s only because some states (such as California and Illinois) also prohibit hundreds of specific semiautomatic rifle models for seemingly arbitrary reasons, regardless of whether they otherwise meet the quasi-objective “feature-based” definition.

Even in those states, the SKS is considered a perfectly lawful “nonassault” weapon as long as it utilizes a “fixed magazine” instead of a detachable one, even though internal box magazines may be reloaded with stripper clips just as easily as empty detachable magazines may be replaced with fully loaded ones.

Not that any of these distinctions are relevant in the context of rendering the rifle “less lethal” or less capable of being used to kill at a distance. Consider that the bolt-action rifle used to kill President John F. Kennedy ironically would not be considered a “military-style” assault weapon by modern gun control activists despite having been literally designed for and used by the Italian army.

3. Blame Trump—he’s the one who made it easier for crazy people to get guns.

As just one example, in a viral post on X one major left-leaning account reasoned: “Here’s irony for you. Trump ended laws preventing the mentally ill from owning guns. This is the second attempt where a mentally ill person with a gun tried to assassinate him.”

You’ll be shocked, I’m sure, to learn that none of this is true.

First, Trump never “ended laws preventing the mentally ill from owning guns.” Presumably, this poster and others are referring to Trump’s role in rescinding a highly controversial, Obama-era administrative rule promulgated by the Social Security Administration.

That rule, which went into effect just days before Trump took office in 2017, required the agency to report to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System as “prohibited persons” anyone using a representative payee to help manage disability benefits.

As a result, an estimated 75,000 Americans would be stripped of their Second Amendment rights without the slightest bit of due process—no hearings, no individual medical assessments declaring them dangerous, and no opportunity for rebuttal. Worse, at the time these individuals requested or were assigned representative payees, none of them had any reason to believe the decision would dramatically affect their right to keep and bear arms.

The Obama administration rule was staunchly opposed not just by pro-gun groups, but by dozens of national organizations that traditionally have supported greater restrictions on the exercise of Second Amendment rights. The American Civil Liberties Union, for example, denounced the rule as lacking any basis in reliable evidence or solid data, particularly with respect to whether those whose rights were stripped had any increased propensity toward violence.

As president, Trump didn’t unilaterally rescind the rule, which he doubtless could have done. Instead, he signed legislation passed by Congress with bipartisan support that prohibited the Social Security Administration from reporting recipients to the background check system as mentally unfit merely because they had a representative payee.

The unpopular and unconstitutional nature of the rule notwithstanding, there’s absolutely no evidence that either gunman accused of trying to assassinate Trump ever received disability payments, much less required a representative payee to manage those benefits such that the rule plausibly would have resulted in their being reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS.

To the extent there’s any irony to these viral claims, it’s not based either on the gunman’s mental state or Trump’s role in overriding a controversial administrative rule with limited reach. No, the irony is that the second suspected gunman is a convicted felon whose name was already on the NICS list of prohibited persons when the Obama-era rule took effect, and he remained a prohibited person even after Congress overrode it.

In conclusion, there’s truly nothing new under the sun when it comes to gun control activists in the wake of concerning national headlines. They’ll say just about anything to cast the blame on lawful gun owners and insist that our rights be restricted further, regardless of how little capacity their laws actually have to render us all safer.

Their proposed laws certainly wouldn’t have made a difference for Donald Trump.

Ryan Routh, who faces two gun charges after allegedly attempting to assassinate the former president on Sept. 15 at his West Palm Beach, Florida, golf club, penned a note telling “the world” that he would offer $150,000 to anyone who could “complete” the job, according to court records. Prosecutors wrote that law enforcement was contacted by a witness on Wednesday who said Routh had dropped off a box at his residence including various letters, along with “ammunition, a metal pipe, miscellaneous building materials, tools, four phones,” several months before the assassination attempt.

“Dear World, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you,” the letter states. “I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster.”

JUST IN – Letter by Trump gunman Ryan Routh released by DOJ: "I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job." pic.twitter.com/j2NsPQuNeA

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 23, 2024

“Everyone across the globe from the youngest to the oldest know that Trump is unfit to be anything, much less a US president,” the letter continues.

The letter goes on to note that Trump “ended relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has unraveled,” according to prosecutors.

The witness opened the box left by Routh after learning of the attempted assassination on Sept. 15, the filing states.

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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a 22-page report Monday that says the Department of Homeland Security, the Secret Service, and the FBI all failed to answer the public’s questions about the first attempted assassination of Trump on July13 during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“In response, Senator Hawley personally visited the Butler, Pennsylvania rally site to interview whistleblowers, opened up a whistleblower tip line, and encouraged those with relevant information to tell their stories,” the Hawley report says. “Since then, many individuals have come forward with information regarding the events of July 13—from the Secret Service, DHS, and local law enforcement, as well as private citizens.”

The Secret Service contends that it is working with members of Congress on oversight of the July 13 shooting, which clipped Trump’s right ear, killed one rallygoer, and wounded two others.

“The U.S. Secret Service is aware of the senator’s report and will continue to work with congressional oversight committees in both the House and the Senate,” Secret Service spokesperson Nate Herring told The Daily Signal in an email responding to an inquiry about the Hawley report.

Here are top takeaways from the new report on the attempt to kill Trump in Pennsylvania.

1. ‘Gunman Would Have Been Handcuffed in the Parking Lot’

The Secret Service’s Counter Surveillance Division didn’t perform a normal evaluation of the Butler site, the whistleblower alleged. The division performs threat assessments of event sites involving protectees.

“The whistleblower stated that if personnel from CSD had been present at the rally, the gunman would have been handcuffed in the parking lot after being spotted with a rangefinder,” the report says.

The whistleblower said the Secret Service had ordered significant cuts to the division that could include reducing manpower by up to 20%.

Secret Service personnel also expressed alarm that individuals were admitted to the Pennsylvania rally without vetting. The whistleblower alleged that those who raised such concerns faced retaliation.

2. ‘Former President, and Not the Incumbent’

The Hawley report notes that during a Senate hearing July 30, Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, testified: “If you’re talking about Butler, Pennsylvania, all assets requested were approved.”

However, the whistleblower told Hawley’s office that countersniper teams and countersurveillance resources were not included in the request because Secret Service officials told the requesting agents that such requests would be denied.

The Secret Service denied the requests for additional security in part because Trump was “not the incumbent” president.

“The whistleblower alleged that officials within this office preemptively informed the Pittsburgh field office that the Butler rally was not going to receive additional security resources because Trump is a former president, and not the incumbent president or vice president,” the report says.

The whistleblower said the manpower request didn’t include extra security resources because agents on the ground were told not to ask for them in the first place, according to the report.

“Importantly, these resources included countersniper teams and CSD personnel,” the report says.

Members of Congress have questioned why Trump didn’t have more protection after the first assassination attempt July 13.

On Sunday, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters that since Trump isn’t a sitting president, Secret Service coverage was limited.

“If he was [the sitting president], we would have had this entire golf course surrounded,” Bradshaw said.

During a Monday afternoon press conference, Rowe talked about both the July and September attempts on Trump’s life.

“Coming out of Butler, I have ordered a paradigm shift,” Rowe said during a press conference Monday. “The Secret Service’s protective methodologies work. And they are sound. And we saw that yesterday. But the way we are positioned right now in this dynamic threat environment, it has given me guidance to say, ‘you know what, we need to look at what our protective methodology is.’ We need to get out of a reactive model and get to a preparedness model.”

3. ‘Known to Be Incompetent’

One whistleblower asserted that the Secret Service agent in charge of the Butler rally was responsible for mitigating line-of-sight concerns at the site.

Another whistleblower alleged the same lead agent at the rally made decisions that “likely compromised the overall security of the event.”

“The Secret Service’s lead site agent on July 13—the agent with specific responsibility for the security of the rally site, including line-of-sight concerns—was known to be incompetent,” the report says. “That incompetence led to the placement of items like flags around the Butler stage and catwalk, impairing visibility.”

The report continues:

For example, campaign material such as flags were permitted to be placed around the stage and catwalk used by the former president, despite the fact that these items were typically prohibited because of how they affected the line-of-sight of those agents responsible for identifying threats.

The Secret Service also did not check IDs when issuing credentials that authorize access to restricted areas of the site, contrary to typical practice.

4. ‘Loose’ Security for Trump

The government whistleblower informed Hawley’s office that the Secret Service considered Trump’s July 13 rally a “loose” security event.

Among other things, this meant that “detection canines were not deployed to monitor entry and detect threats in the usual manner for outdoor campaign rallies,” the Hawley report says.

The report also says that individuals “without proper designations” could access backstage areas at the Pennsylvania rally.

“DHS personnel failed to properly police the 5-foot security buffer near the stage and allowed people to move barricades around the buffer,” the report says, referring to the Department of Homeland Security, parent agency of the Secret Service. Further, the whistleblower said, DHS personnel were not familiar with security protocols for campaign events.

“The whistleblower further alleged that the majority of DHS personnel working the rally were agents with the department’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) team,” the report continues.

5. ‘Abandoned the Roof’

The whistleblower told Hawley’s office that there was supposed to be a security presence on the roof of what is called AGR Building 6, where the would-be assassin aimed and fired shots at Trump, killing one man, striking two other men, and grazing the right ear of the former president as he spoke onstage.

That rooftop was supposed to be covered by personnel, the whistleblower said, “but the post was abandoned because of the hot weather.”

During the Senate hearing July 30, Hawley questioned Rowe, the Secret Service’s acting director, about this point.

Rowe replied that law enforcement was “posted up inside” Building 6. He said “we’re going to ensure that state and local countersnipers are on roofs.”

Hawley pressed whether law enforcement officers had abandoned their post on the roof. Rowe replied that he did not “know that to be a fact.”

6. No Drone Coverage

On July 25, Hawley wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about a whistleblower allegation that drone coverage for the Trump rally had been denied by Secret Service supervisors.

The report provides more information on the matter.

“The whistleblower alleged that the night before the rally, Secret Service personnel repeatedly denied offers from a local law enforcement partner to utilize drone technology to secure the rally,” the report says. “According to the whistleblower, the drones that were offered to the Secret Service could not only identify active shooters but also help neutralize them.”

After the shooting, Secret Service personnel asked local law enforcement to deploy the drone technology to survey the site, the whistleblower told Hawley’s office.

The 20-year-old would-be assassin used his own drone to survey the rally area up to two hours before Trump took the stage.

7. ‘Poorly Secured’ Hospital

After the July 13 shooting, Secret Service agents rushed the stage to shield Trump before taking him to Butler Memorial Hospital for medical treatment.

Although the campaign rally wasn’t adequately secured, neither was the hospital, the whistleblower told Hawley’s office.

“The hospital site where former President Trump received treatment after the shooting was poorly secured, and the hospital site agent could not answer basic questions about site security,” the report says.

The report later adds: “The Secret Service site agent responsible for hospital security did not know what was going on and could not answer basic questions about site security.”

“It’s really weird that he would come in here and know exactly that spot and have a good vibe that he was not going to be detected in any kind of preoperation surveillance by the Secret Service,” radio talk-show host and podcaster Bongino said Monday on his radio show. “Was he tipped off that he was going to be there? Is there a state actor involved? Are the Iranians involved somehow?”

Authorities identified the gunman as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, who was pulled over and arrested shortly after the incident on Interstate 95 near West Palm Beach, Florida.

While Trump was playing golf Sunday at his course in West Palm Beach, authorities said, a man put the muzzle of a rifle through a chain link fence at the next hole.

According to Fox News, the man was between 300 and 500 yards from Trump. When he put the gun through the fence, a Secret Service agent or agents opened fire.

On Aug. 26, testifying to Republican lawmakers, Bongino predicted another “incident” with the Secret Service, claiming that the agency is worse off today than it was before the assassination attempt against Trump on July 13 at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“[If] you think this is the last incident, you’re out of your mind,” Bongino said.

Bongino said Monday that he was able to predict a second assassination attempt because the Secret Service has major problems with training and manpower.

“What they did was wrong,” he said. “The Secret Service has effed up again. They deserve no accolades at all.”

Bongino suggested there could be a mole in the Secret Service who helped the shooter identify Trump’s exact location Sunday.

“How did he know how to set up and where to set up, and that Trump was going to be there?” Bongino asked.

“Is there a guy or a woman in the Secret Service having a relationship with someone who is not who they say they are?” he continued. “The Iranians have been running these traps in Israel and elsewhere. …How do we know that there’s not some kind of ‘honeypot’ trap, and that some agent, or some DHS personnel, someone who has to be notified, is not in a relationship with someone?”

Is there a mole inside the Secret Service?
Don’t miss my show on Rumble for the story.
Watch here. https://t.co/nZ8gE2GILf

— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) September 16, 2024

The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS.

The Secret Service needs to assign security details for its protectees based on threat, not title, Bongino said.

“We do this protection by title and not by threat, which is going to get someone killed,” he said. “When is this going to sink in? After his head gets blown up on live TV?”

“Is there a political motive for the inadequate security footprint around President Trump?” Bongino asked.

The legacy media should be asking many questions about how the two shooters, on July 13 and on Sunday, could have pulled off their assassination attempts alone, he said.

“This ‘lone gunman’ thing is getting hard to believe,” the former Secret Service agent said. “Both of these shooters found holes, unique holes, from a long-distance threat in a security plan that should have been locked down [by] someone.”

The Missouri Republican senator’s report found the Secret Service intelligence units were absent from the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on July 13. The intelligence units are teams of Secret Service agents that are paired with state and local law enforcement to handle reports of suspicious persons.

NEW – Following the latest assassination attempt on ⁦⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩, I’m releasing a comprehensive Whistleblower Report on the multiple failures of Secret Service & DHS – including new allegations & numerous unanswered questions due to USSS stonewalling pic.twitter.com/Rxcim9N05U

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) September 16, 2024

Hawley also found that the hospital where Trump was treated was poorly secured. His report states that the hospital site agent failed to answer basic questions regarding site security.

The report further highlights that neither the Secret Service, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, nor the department itself, provided answers about who made the decisions to deny counter-sniper coverage to the rooftop where the Pennsylvania shooter shot Trump.

The report also says neither agency would publicly name the lead site agency for the rally.

They also did not answer questions about reports that the Secret Service denied the Trump campaign the protection resources it requested.

Hawley is a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and is among the members of Congress to personally survey the Butler site.

The senator shared the report with the House Task Force investigating the July 13 shooting in Butler.

However, I’m not 100% convinced for three reasons. First, there’s the fact that Trump’s schedule was not public and he had made a last-minute decision to go golfing on Sunday. This would be a smoking gun if Trump didn’t regularly golf on Sundays, but it’s still conspicuous that he wasn’t supposed to do so yesterday.

Second, the stage was perfectly set for a faked assassination attempt. They had the right guy to push into action. They were able to have an alleged attempt without further damaging the reputation of the Secret Service. They had people positioned to identify and report Routh to authorities so they could rapidly apprehend him without incident. And to top it off, they had their favorite “news” outlet, CNN, dropping all the scoops so they could control the dissemination of the official narrative.

Some will argue that it would be hard to get anyone to willingly pretend to be attempting to assassinate a president. I would argue that for the Deep State, it wouldn’t be difficult at all. They would simply have to find someone (and they likely have many out there waiting for the call) they could pressure through other crimes. For example, let’s say they busted Routh with sex trafficking content on his computer. They could tell him he’s going to spend the rest of his life in prison, but he can either do so as a pedo or as the guy who tried to kill Trump. Given his background, it would be a no-brainer for a guy like Routh.

Last but not least is the “why”. Sunday, a credible sworn affidavit dropped showing illegal election actions taken by the Harris campaign and ABC News. It was an absolute bombshell if true, as I noted in an article. Less than two hours later, news of the alleged assassination attempt broke. No major news outlet discussed the affidavit other than The Gateway Pundit.

According to the sworn document, the Harris campaign demanded that Trump got fact-checked robustly while forbidding any fact-checks on Harris at all. She gave them a list of topics they couldn’t bring up, including her time as District Attorney and her corrupt brother-in-law. They gave her “sample” questions but didn’t give any to the Trump campaign.

Keep in mind, this affidavit was written, notarized, and sent to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson BEFORE last week’s debate, so the fact that it jibes perfectly with what we actually saw should be huge news. Except, it isn’t. Nobody’s talking about it. It would be hard to have a bigger story than the campaign of a sitting Vice President and current presidential candidate breaking the law to rig a debate, but they managed to find a bigger story nonetheless.

Again, I’m pretty sure that this theory is wrong. 95%. Maybe 90%. But it’s far from impossible and if the ABC News whistleblower story never resurfaces then I’d bump those odds up a notch.

I’ll be talking about this on today’s episode of The JD Rucker Show, plus a selection of stories from today’s newsletter links…

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Dem Rep. Crockett: MAGA Is a Domestic Threat, Trump Is Stoking Them

by Breitbart

Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) said Sunday on MSNBC’s “Inside” that MAGA is a domestic threat that former President Donald Trump is stoking them. Crockett said, “Springfield is going through hell, but they are going through hell because the guy who says he wants to be the commander-in-chief is actually…

Border Patrol Finds 23 Illegals Being Smuggled in Big Rig

by Infowars

Nearly two dozen illegals were pulled out of a big rig by U.S. Border Patrol agents in New Mexico last week. USBP El Paso Sector Chief Anthony Good shared photos from the smuggling bust on Thursday. “Risking lives for profit, the dangers of human smuggling. Deming BP Agents disrupted…

Bill Gates Forecasts Another Global Pandemic ‘Likely’ Within Next 25 Years in Ominous Health Warning

by End Times Headlines

War or another global pandemic, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates is cautioning that, if the world manages to avoid the former, the latter is a very real possibility within the next 25 years. “A lot of unrest” in today’s age could spark a major war, he told CNBC’s “Make It.”…

Banks Urged to Defund Farming Industry to Limit Meat and Dairy Consumption

by Slay News

Major banks are being urged to stop financing the global farming industry as part of an effort to force limits on the general public’s meat and dairy consumption. A collective of over 100 climate groups, led by Friends of the Earth, is pressuring JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and other private…

EV Dealers Are So Desperate to Offload Stock That They’re Offering Lease Deals for $20 a Month

by PJ Media

How soft is the new EV car market? Some EV vehicles have been on their lots for so long that they’re offering lease terms so generous, they may as well be giving them away. A Kia dealer in Virginia only gets a couple of inquiries a month for EVs….

Tim Tebow Teams With Bipartisan Group of Lawmakers to Introduce the ‘Renewed Hope Act’

by Western Journal

Tim Tebow has something he wants abused children in the dark, forgotten layers of American society to have — hope that the nightmare of child sex abuse can end. Tebow, a former NFL quarterback who was also a college star with Florida and had a stint as a minor…

Faith-Driven Gold Company CEO Says Not to Downplay a Trump Victory

by Sponsored Post

Anyone who receives correspondence from precious metals companies has likely received a flurry of fearmongering emails or texts claiming a victory by Kamala Harris will send gold and silver prices through the roof. This is not false, but one gold company is not only rooting for Donald Trump to…

In an interview that was originally posted by Newsweek, he claimed that “Plan B” was to stay in Ukraine for a while and encourage other Americans that did have military experience to come and fight in the war.  During that interview, he even claimed that he was getting foreigners placed in specific military units.  So obviously Ryan Routh had extensive connections inside Ukraine.  Did those connections play any sort of a role in the attempted shooting of Trump?

It has been pointed out that Ryan Routh’s only political donations were to Democrats, and on social media he was very vocal in denouncing Trump…

Routh, who has a lengthy criminal record from North Carolina, frequently posted about politics and exclusively donated to Democratic candidates and causes dating back to 2019.

He also bashed Trump in an April 22 post on X in which he declared, “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose.”

He advised Biden, 81, in an April 22 X post when he was still running for reelection, to run a campaign around keeping “America democratic and free.”

He claimed Trump wants to “make Americans slaves against master.”

Many of his statements are very similar to things that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have publicly said.

So a lot of people are assuming that he is just another radical leftist.

But the truth is that Routh also strongly supported NeoCon Nikki Haley during her run for the Republican nomination.

Ultimately, it appears that Routh was inclined to get behind any candidate that strongly supports the war in Ukraine.

On his website, any American that was willing to go to Ukraine and fight was being offered $1,200 a month…

Ukraine loyalist and Trump sh**ter Ryan Routh ran a website attempting to RECRUIT AMERICANS to fight in Ukraine

His website offered **$1,200 PER MONTH** for any American willing to go to Ukraine, and worked in DC to send US troops over.

“Each one of us is responsible for the outcome of this war,” Routh stated on his site.

He was so passionate about the war in Ukraine that he wanted to go and fight himself…

He claimed on X that he tried to “sell” the idea of having former Afghanistan troopers fight for Ukraine in Russia, but was denied multiple times before giving up after six months.

He also said that he visited Kyiv and claimed that he would be willing to fight on the front lines, if he were permitted to.

Routh obviously is not all there, but that didn’t stop the mainstream media from repeatedly interviewing him.

In fact, as Zero Hedge has documented, Routh was quoted as a pro-Ukraine source by the New York Times, the Financial Times, Semafor and several other outlets.

For Routh, supporting the war in Ukraine was more important than anything else.

So the fact that Donald Trump has said that he intends to bring that war to an end was deeply, deeply upsetting to Routh.

In the end, Routh finally did pick up a rifle for his cause, and now he will probably spend the rest of his life in prison.

Sadly, most Americans are not paying much attention to what is going on in Ukraine, and that is extremely unfortunate.

As I pointed out on Friday, the Russians are warning that we are literally one step away from the unthinkable.

Last week, Vladimir Putin clearly stated that NATO and Russia will be “at war” if Ukraine is allowed to fire long-range missiles supplied by western powers at targets deep inside Russia, and subsequently Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov explained that his nation will “respond in a brutal way” if this actually happens…

“The Russian President has said everything on this topic. The decision [to allow Kiev to strike] is there, all the carte blanche, indulgences have been issued to Kiev’s clients. Therefore, we will respond in a brutal way. There is an element of serious risk here, because the opponents in Washington, London, and other places clearly underestimate the degree of danger of the game they continue to play,” Ryabkov said.

If our leaders miscalculate, we could literally find ourselves in the middle of a nuclear war.

The stakes couldn’t be any higher, and most people in the western world have no idea.

Dmitry Medvedev has even gone so far as to say that the Russians could turn Kyiv into a “giant, grey, melted spot”…

Referring to Kyiv he wrote in a Telegram post: “And that would be it. A giant, grey, melted spot instead of ‘the mother of Russian cities’.”

He also ranted about how “Russia is showing patience” but that the West should not assume Putin would balk at “crossing the line” or triggering an “apocalypse” with nuclear weapons.

Medvedev just this week threatened to use hypersonic missiles to sink Britain if Zelensky’s armies were granted the go-ahead with UK Storm Shadow missiles.

The Russians are not bluffing.

Why can’t our leaders seem to understand this?

If long-range missiles that are supplied by western countries and that are directed to their targets by western countries start falling in Russian cities, the consequences could be apocalyptic…

To say this is an insane, reckless move is an understatement. This is the most dangerous step possible for the US and NATO – and it will likely lead to World War III.

Don’t believe any rhetoric “justifying” the use of long-range missiles on Russia. Putin has pointed out that while Ukraine will host the missiles, they will be fired by NATO personnel who will also insert the targeting data coming from overhead satellites covering Russian territory. Those satellites are American.

This is a line that we must not cross.

As Steve Quayle pointed out during a recent interview with Greg Hunter, we really are “at the inception point for World War III”…

Quayle warns, “This is not a trial run, the Bay of Pigs or the Cuban missile crisis. This is World War III. . . .We are seeing people crazy or people demonically possessed, in my opinion, talking about launching western missiles, German, British or US missiles into Russia. The Russian Ambassador to the UN said on Friday (9/13/24), ‘If you do that, we will consider it an act of war against Russia, and all options are open to us, and none of your countries are safe.’ That’s the bottom line. All these years you warn ahead of time, and they mock you saying fear monger and fear porn. . . . Well, we are at the inception point for World War III. This will not be getting any better.”

Meanwhile, things continue to heat up in the Middle East.

On Sunday, the Houthis shot a hypersonic missile at the Tel Aviv area…

The Houthis claimed responsibility on Sunday for launching a ballistic missile toward central Israel, asserting that it was a new hypersonic missile.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the missile traveled a distance of 2,040 km (1,267 miles) in 11.5 minutes. “We carried out a high-quality military operation targeting a military target in the Tel Aviv area,” Saree said.

How in the world did the Houthis get hypersonic missiles?

I will give you only one guess.

Needless to say, the Iranians would have supplied them.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pledging to impose a “heavy price” on the Houthis…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to exact a heavy price from the Houthis for its missile attack against central Israel on Sunday.

“This morning, the Houthis launched a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen into our territory,” Netanyahu told his government during its weekly meeting.

“They should have known by now that we exact a heavy price for any attempt to harm us,” he stated.

On the northern front, the IDF conducted airstrikes deep inside of Lebanon on Saturday after Hezbollah fired approximately 60 rockets into northern Israel…

The Israel Defense Forces launched airstrikes deep in Lebanon on Saturday, after the Hezbollah terror group bombarded northern Israel with over 60 rockets, including a barrage launched in the early morning hours.

The rocket attacks marked the second day in a row that Hezbollah has targeted the Safed area, though the terror group has claimed to have targeted nearby Israeli military bases.

We are getting very close to all-out war in the Middle East.

It appears that it is just a matter of time.

Once an all-out war in the Middle East erupts, it will be too late to reverse course.

Of course the exact same thing could be said about an all-out war between the United States and Russia.

If our leaders had any common sense, they would be looking for a peaceful way out of this mess while they still can.

Unfortunately, common sense is in very short supply these days.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

The FBI has said in a statement it is investigating the matter as an assassination attempt, while law enforcement officials said on Sunday that Secret Service agents opened fire after discovering the barrel of a rifle at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida. The suspect was later arrested by sheriff’s officials in Marion County, the county’s sheriff’s department said.

“The State of Florida will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at Trump International Golf Club,” DeSantis said in a social media statement. “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.”

The Republican governor was referring to comments made by Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, who said the suspected gunman got between 400 and 500 yards of Trump and had an AK-47 with a scope pointed through a fence. The suspect was located by the agent around the fourth or fifth hole of the golf course, and Trump was set to approach the area, the sheriff said.

The investigation into the Florida incident at the Trump golf course is now being handled by federal law enforcement officials, the Marion County sheriff told reporters earlier Sunday.

Federal agents with the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were helping investigate.

Trump’s campaign and the former president himself issued statements saying that he was safe and unharmed. No injuries were reported.

In July, Trump was shot in the ear during a Pennsylvania campaign rally that also left one attendee dead and two injured. Questions were raised about the Secret Service agency and possible breakdowns in how the rally was secured, leading to the resignation of the agency’s director.

The suspected shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed nearly immediately after he opened fire at the rally. Few details about Crooks, including a motive, have been released since.

On Sunday, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas condemned violence against candidates and officials. His agency oversees the Secret Service and is currently overseeing an investigation into the Pennsylvania assassination attempt two months ago.

In a post on X, Mayorkas commended the Secret Service for “its quick action to preempt this apparent assassination attempt and protect the former President.”

“DHS and the Secret Service are closely working with federal, state and local law enforcement partners to learn all of the facts surrounding this incident. The safety and security of Presidential candidates and other protectees is the highest priority for the Secret Service, ” Mayorkas said.

Meanwhile, both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, have said they were briefed on the incident.

Biden released a statement on Sunday night saying he was “relieved” that Trump was not harmed in the incident, while also commending the Secret Service.

“I have been briefed by my team regarding what federal law enforcement is investigating as a possible assassination attempt of former President Trump today. A suspect is in custody, and I commend the work of the Secret Service and their law enforcement partners for their vigilance and their efforts to keep the former President and those around him safe,” he said.

The former president updated his fundraising website later Sunday with a message about his campaign efforts.
“FEAR NOT! I am safe and well, and no one was hurt. Thank God! But, there are people in this world who will do whatever it takes to stop us. I will not stop fighting for you. I will Never Surrender,” the website states.

DeSantis challenged Trump in the Republican primaries earlier this year before the Florida governor dropped out.