By Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman and Patricia Mazzei
The FBI said Sunday that it was investigating what appeared to be an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump as he played golf at one of his clubs in Florida.
Officials said Trump was safe. Just less than two months ago, he was wounded in an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“The FBI has responded to West Palm Beach, Florida, and is investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump,” the agency said in a statement.
Shots were fired Sunday on the grounds of the Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said. “President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity,” Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said in a statement.
The Secret Service opened fire at someone who was armed and deemed a threat to the former president, an official briefed on the matter said. It was not immediately clear if the person got off a shot.
Law enforcement officials recovered an AR-15 or AK-47-type semiautomatic rifle after the incident and are running a trace to determine who bought the gun and where it was sold, according to two officials with knowledge of the situation.
Teri Barbera, a spokesperson for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed that a shooting took place “on the grounds” of the golf course while Trump was present. A “person of interest” had been detained, she said.
A news conference was expected this afternoon.
The Secret Service said it was investigating “a protective incident involving former President Donald Trump” that occurred shortly before 2 p.m. Eastern.
Sheriff William Snyder of Martin County, Florida, said his deputies had detained the driver of a vehicle wanted by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in connection with the shooting. The man was detained as he was driving northbound on Interstate 95 and crossed from Palm Beach County to Martin County. The highway was shut down at Mile Marker 110, with federal investigators on the scene, the sheriff said.
Trump was golfing with his friend Steve Witkoff, a New York real estate investor, on the course when the shots were fired at the course, according to three people briefed on the matter.
Vice President Kamala Harris said on social media that she had been briefed on the incident. “I am glad he is safe,” she wrote. “Violence has no place in America.”
In a statement, a White House official said President Joe Biden had also been briefed, along with Harris. “They are relieved to know that he is safe,” the official said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., posted on social media that he had spoken with Trump and he was “in good spirits.”
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