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00:00Welcome. An assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a rally in July was an extraordinary
00:08moment in the American election campaign. Now a second apparent attempt on his life
00:14just nine weeks later is truly unprecedented. The FBI says a man is in custody this Monday
00:21after an AK-7 style assault rifle was recovered at Trump's golf course in Florida. Trump himself
00:29was not injured and media reports have now named the suspect as 58-year-old Ryan Ruth.
00:36With the details, here's Matthew Mary Karushet.
00:41Just hours after suspected second assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump,
00:47law enforcement officials arrested a suspect. U.S. media report that Ryan Ruth was captured
00:53after Secret Service agents opened fire on a gunman carrying an AK-47 style rifle near
01:00the boundary of Trump's Florida golf course. Police have been searching the properties
01:05of Ruth, a former resident of North Carolina who has been living as a self-employed affordable
01:10housing builder in Hawaii since 2018. A staunch political activist, Ruth has voiced opinions
01:17both supportive of and critical of Trump. One cause dear to his heart, however, has
01:23been the war in Ukraine as he recently spent months in the country supporting the resistance
01:28against the Russian invasion. Here he is talking about Russian President Vladimir Putin in
01:342022.
01:35Putin is a terrorist and he needs to be ended. So we need everybody from around the globe
01:40to stop what they're doing and come here now and support the Ukrainians to end this war.
01:46Ruth is suspected of being the person who hid in shrubbery with a rifle, scope and camera
01:51near the area where Trump was golfing. Secret Service agents were clearing holes ahead of
01:56Trump when they spotted a rifle barrel. The agents opened fire, but the person fled in
02:01a black car before being apprehended on the highway. The FBI has said the incident appears
02:07to be an assassination attempt. Nonetheless, Trump posted statements in seemingly good
02:13spirits that evening, praising law enforcement for their work and saying he would never surrender
02:18to people trying to stop him and his supporters.
02:23Reaction of course has been pouring in to the apparent assassination attempt, including
02:28for President Joe Biden and Trump's rival for the White House, Kamala Harris.
02:35Sunday's apparent assassination attempt against Donald Trump has prompted a wave of condemnation.
02:42Among those to denounce the incident was his rival, Kamala Harris.
02:45I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his
02:50property in Florida, and I'm glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.
02:56A sentiment echoed by her running mate, Tim Walz, who said, quote, violence has no place
03:01in our country. It is not who we are as a country.
03:06In a statement on social media, Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, said he was glad the Republican
03:11presidential candidate was safe, adding that he was in quote, good spirits.
03:17Sunday's incident appears, according to the FBI, to be the second assassination attempt
03:22against the former US president this year.
03:25At a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania back in July, Trump was grazed in the ear in a shooting
03:30that killed a member of the crowd and critically injured two.
03:34In the wake of Sunday's apparent assassination attempt, the former president's son, Eric
03:38Trump, expressed his fears of another attack, saying, quote, my father is running out of
03:43lives here. How many more rifles are going to come within assassination distance of my
03:47father?
03:50US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, praised the Secret Service for their quote,
03:55quick response to ensure former President Trump's safety.
03:59It comes after the US Secret Service director resigned following the Butler shooting amid
04:04scrutiny of security lapses surrounding the attack.
04:08So we got to do more.
04:09Well, I'm pleased to welcome to the programme now, Christopher Featherstone. He's a lecturer
04:14in international relations at the University of York. Hello to you, sir. Thanks for joining
04:19us today.
04:20Thank you very much.
04:22Look, the United States is 50 days out from the election. What kind of impact do you think
04:27this is going to have on Trump's campaign and on Trump himself in these final weeks?
04:35Well, I think we've seen recently that this has actually had a rather bullish effect on
04:40Donald Trump. It is actually energising. We can see from his messaging, he has responded
04:46quite well. He has responded positively. So it's not necessarily had a massive impact
04:51on him individually. But we can also see that this is potentially going to have an impact
04:55on his supporters and how willing they are to come out and go to his rallies. Donald
05:02Trump gets a lot of energy in his campaigns from his political rallies. And if they are
05:07becoming more dangerous or more difficult to persuade yourself to attend, then we can
05:12maybe see that having a downturn. So we can see it potentially having a positive impact
05:17on his vote turnout, but it could also have an impact on the rallies and the attendance
05:20at these rallies.
05:21Well, you talk about this being, you know, something potentially energising for Donald
05:26Trump. We remember after that first assassination attempt in July, Donald Trump raised his fist
05:33into the air after he was shot. And there were plenty of people at the time who thought
05:36his sort of instinctive response was a vote winner. But look, actually, that assassination
05:43attempt got rather lost in the fast paced American election cycle. And so I wonder now
05:49whether you think what happened yesterday will benefit Trump given how close the polls
05:56clearly are?
05:57Well, I think, yes, this is this is a campaign that it has been repeatedly said it is on
06:03a knife edge. This campaign is incredibly close. So any bump in the polls for Donald
06:08Trump will be a positive impact for him. Kamala Harris had arguably a better performance in
06:15the debate. And actually, Donald Trump was potentially losing some of the momentum in
06:19his campaign. So it's potential that that would maybe, that bump might address that
06:24potential loss of momentum. I think we should also note just how remarkable this is, though,
06:29how dangerous this looks in the American political sphere. We have two attempted assassinations
06:37of a candidate of a former president within a matter of months in one campaign. This is
06:43in this is unprecedented in the modern era. So, you know, we shouldn't also get away from
06:48just the impact of this campaign of this assassination attempt.
06:52Well, indeed, it is unprecedented. I wonder what you think it tells us about American
06:57political discourse today about the country's relationship with political violence?
07:01Well, I think disturbingly, this is a this is becoming more frequent, right? The idea
07:07of political violence in the political sphere in America is becoming more normalised. It
07:12is becoming something that we are more used to seeing when we see attempted assassinations.
07:17We can also think back to the political violence of January 6th. Right. So this is not necessarily
07:23something that is wholly unprecedented, but it is increasing and we can maybe see this
07:27as a symptom of an increase in political violence and a symptom of an increase in the violence
07:33of some of the rhetoric around election campaigning in America. Donald Trump's response has been,
07:39you know, very aggressive again, as it was with his last assassination, his response
07:44to his last assassination attempt. So we can see that potentially this is not something
07:48that is going to be going away. But this increase in political violence is symptomatic of a
07:53deeper polarisation and extremism within the American political sphere.
07:58We talked a bit about Trump himself and about the Trump campaign. Your thoughts on Kamala
08:02Harris at this moment in the election cycle? She said on X that violence has no place in
08:08America in the wake of this apparent assassination attempt. Do you think she will have to say
08:14more in the days ahead?
08:16I would be very, very surprised if she doesn't need to address this further. In the last
08:22case, there were significant questions around the security provision to Donald Trump during
08:28his campaigning, during his time on the road. So it is it would be incredibly unlikely if
08:34this does not become another talking point in the campaign. Last time, the head of the
08:39Secret Service had to resign. And this caused a seismic impact on American politics. So
08:45I would be shocked if we don't see further comment on the assassination attempt. I would
08:51say that this maybe needs to be addressed in a in a response to the rhetoric surrounding
08:57it. Kamala Harris has understandably not gone out there too far. She doesn't want to get
09:02too involved yet until we have more of the facts available. That's completely understandable.
09:07But I think it will come in the next few hours and arguably days as well. More of a
09:13discussion point around the violence of the rhetoric, the conversations that Americans
09:18are having around the politics going on at the moment. What is the what is the response
09:23to the political rhetoric and the potential of violence in American politics?
09:28Just a final question. You point out that that in July, the head of the Secret Service
09:33had to resign in the wake of that assassination attempt on Trump. Do you think heads will
09:38roll again now?
09:41I think it's potentially heads will roll. But I think actually maybe this needs to go
09:45further than this. This question around who's in charge, who's who's taking these decisions
09:50and actually maybe looking towards what is the what is the symptoms that are impacting
09:56this political violence, but also potentially looking more broadly. I would be surprised
10:02if we don't see the Secret Service looking at trying to portray this as a success, right,
10:08that they have prevented an attempt on Donald Trump. So it's potential that this would be
10:13used as a as a way of showing that what they are trying to do has worked. But I would also
10:19be very surprised if we don't have further conversations around how is this allowed to
10:24happen again within a matter of nine weeks. So I would be very shocked if this isn't a
10:31topic for further conversation. I don't know if further heads will roll there.
10:35Christopher Featherstone talking to us live there. Thank you very much indeed.
10:39Thank you very much.