Donald Trump has recalled hearing shots fired by Secret Service agents at a would-be attacker hiding in the bushes at his Florida golf course on Sunday.
Speaking in a livestream on social media platform X, the Republican presidential candidate said he and a friend were “grabbed” by agents and bundled into golf carts as gunfire rang out.
Secret Service personnel several hundred metres away had spotted the barrel of a rifle poking out of foliage. After opening fire, agents pursued the suspect, who dropped his weapon and drove away, but was later arrested on a highway.
The suspect, 58-year-old Ryan Routh, did not fire any shots himself, the Secret Service has said
Mr Routh appeared briefly in a Florida court Monday to face gun possession charges. Investigations by the FBI and the state of Florida continue.
Later on Tuesday, Trump is due to make his first in-person appearance since the incident at a “town hall” in Flint, Michigan, a crucial swing state where votes will help decide the presidential election.
His campaign schedule will not change, according to a source cited by the Reuters news agency.
In his account, Trump recalled that he and friend Steve Witkoff “heard shots being fired in the air, I guess probably four or five” as Secret Service agents on the course’s next hole spotted the rifle and fired at the suspect.
The agents with Trump “knew immediately it was bullets, and they grabbed me”, he said.
“We got into the carts and we moved along pretty, pretty good. I was with an agent, and the agent did a fantastic job,” he said during the X Spaces event.
In comments to the Washington Post, he insisted that the incident, as well as an attempt on his life during a rally in Pennsylvania on 13 July, had not affected him.
“But people ask me that question a lot, and I try not to think about it,” he said.
In a rare show of political unity, Trump also commended President Joe Biden for a “very nice” phone call after the apparent assassination attempt. The White House said Biden expressed his relief that Trump was safe.
Trump sought to blame the apparent attempt on “inflammatory language” from Democratic political rivals.
