Donald Trump reveals what he thinks the assassination attempts on his life mean and what Joe Biden said to him in the aftermath

Donald Trump said it was God’s will for two assassination attempts on him because “God wants me to be president.”

He did not elaborate on why the attempts on his life would mean that.

“Something’s going on. I mean, maybe God wants me to be president to save this country,” he said during an interview on X Monday night.

He also revealed what Joe Biden said to him after the president called him Monday night to ask how he was doing.

“He called to see if I was okay, to see if I had any suggestions. We need more people on my team because we have 50,000, 60,000 people coming to events, and you know, other people don’t have that,” Trump noted.

He repeated his claim that the “radical left” was behind the attempts on his life — both on Sunday and at the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“Well, there’s a lot of rhetoric that’s going in the right direction. A lot of people think that the Democrats, when they talk about threats to democracy and all that kind of stuff, and it seems like both of these people were radical leftists,” he noted of the men who tried to shoot him.

It was Trump’s first public comment on the assassination attempt on Sunday, as he played golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

“It was a big deal. But it worked out well. The Secret Service did a great job and they put the man behind bars and hopefully he’ll stay there for a long time. Dangerous person, very, very dangerous person,” the former president said.

He described Sunday on his course as “very peaceful, very nice weather. Everything was beautiful. It was a nice place to be.”

He then became dramatic and told what happened when he was on the fifth hole: ‘All of a sudden we heard shots in the air. And I think there were four or five. But what do I know? But Secret Service knew right away that they were bullets and they grabbed me.’

He watched as a Secret Service agent put him in his golf cart and drove away.

“I would have liked to have made that last putt, but we decided, let’s get out of here,” he joked.

Trump praised law enforcement for their work.

“So the Secret Service has done a tremendous job. And I think I can honestly say that the sheriff’s office, law enforcement, everybody has done a tremendous job.”

Trump’s comments came as he unveiled a new cryptocurrency business. The interview was audio-only but took place at Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s Palm Beach home. It was scheduled before Sunday’s assassination attempt.

Trump calls the business Liberty Financial. His sons promote it too. But details are scarce.

Trump has made millions of dollars selling novelty items featuring moments from his political life. He uses the same social media accounts that promote his presidential candidacy to promote his business ventures, such as $399 gold sneakers, a coffee table book, or a Bible.

If Trump wins the White House in November, his latest business venture could raise a host of questions about ethical conflicts.

During his campaign, Trump has expressed support for policies favorable to digital currencies.

“We are embracing the future with crypto and leaving the slow and old fashioned big banks behind,” Trump wrote on X.

Trump earned about $7.2 million in 2023 through a licensing deal with a company that sells digital NFTs (non-fungible tokens, trading cards) featuring the former president, his financial disclosure report shows.

He has sold pieces of the suit he wore during the July 13 assassination attempt. And he reported earning $300,000 in royalties from The Greenwood Bible, a business associated with country singer Lee Greenwood.

But his interview on X on Monday night came after police released more details about Sunday’s incident, including that Trump stalker Ryan Routh may have been lying in wait for the former president for more than 11 hours on the Florida golf course where Trump was playing.

And the high-powered rifle Routh was carrying may have been purchased overseas.

The new details emerged in a document filed Monday charging Routh, 58, with weapons offenses in connection with the incident. Sunday’s incident is the second such attempt on Trump’s life in the past three months.

Officials found that the loaded 7.62×39 SKS rifle had a serial number that was “illegible and not readable to the naked eye.”

The agent who wrote the complaint said such guns are not manufactured in Florida and that the gun was likely “out of state or in commerce.”

Meanwhile, cellphone location data obtained by the FBI indicates Routh was “near tree line” at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach from just before 2 a.m. Sunday until approximately 1:30 p.m.

That was about when a Secret Service agent checking the course for Trump spotted a gun barrel sticking out of a nearby fence and fired at Routh. Trump was quickly evacuated.

The details suggest a degree of forward planning by Routh. Moreover, the fact that he spent about 12 hours on the golf course without being discovered has raised questions about the Secret Service’s protective procedures.

Officials said Routh was on the public side of the Trump golf course fence when the officer saw the barrel of the gun.

Police are still investigating all details, including where the suspect got the AK-style rifle, what his movements were before the incident and whether anyone else was involved.

It is unclear where Routh would have parked and waited for the former president, who regularly plays golf at his West Palm Beach club when he is at his nearby Mar-a-Lago home.

Local police have tightened security around the golf club, including closing the road to all but local traffic.

When the agent spotted the gun on Sunday, Trump was on the fifth hole of his Palm Beach golf club. The agent was on the sixth hole, doing a visual sweep for the former president, when he spotted the barrel of the gun.

Routh was less than 500 yards from Trump when he was captured.

Acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe said Monday that Routh was unable to fire a single shot and that Trump was never in his “field of vision.”

“As former President Trump drove down the fifth fairway, across the course and out of sight of the sixth green, the officer, who was visually scanning the area of ​​the sixth green, saw the suspect armed with what he believed to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm,” he noted.

The Secret Service was criticized for failing to maintain sufficient distance around Trump at his July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate the former president.

But, Rowe noted, the agency had a security plan in place for Trump’s golf game, which he said was not planned.

“We have a security plan in place and that plan has worked,” he said at a news conference on Monday.

In the area near the tree line where Routh fled, officers found a digital camera, two bags, a loaded 7.62×39 SKS rifle with a scope and a black plastic bag containing food.

On Sunday, after the Secret Service fired shots and Routh fled, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office pulled over a vehicle and apprehended Routh at 2:14 p.m. Officers said the license plate of the Nissan he was in was registered to a white 2012 Ford truck that had been reported stolen.

Ryan was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number.

Researchers are trying to recover the serial number so they can trace its origin.

He did not appear to fire the weapon, police noted. Apparently, the only shots fired were from the Secret Service. Even if Routh did not fire the weapon, he could still be charged with attempted murder.

“We are investigating this case as a suspected attempted assassination of former President Trump,” FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Veltri of the Miami office said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

The Secret Service later discovered a rifle, a backpack and a GoPro video camera attached to the fence near where Routh was seen.

Routh appeared for a brief hearing Monday morning in federal court in West Palm Beach, wearing a blue prison jumpsuit.

U.S. District Judge Ryon McCabe has ordered Routh held without bail until his pretrial detention hearing on September 23.

Routh has a lengthy criminal record in North Carolina, including a conviction for possession of a weapon of mass destruction and multiple charges of possession of stolen property.

He also has ties to Hawaii, where he worked in construction and led a group of people who built housing for the homeless.

He was deeply involved in efforts to recruit soldiers to fight against Russia in Ukraine. He traveled to Ukraine in 2022 and later wrote a book, ‘Ukraine’s Unwinnable War.’

AP video footage shows Routh holding a small demonstration on Independence Square in Kiev in April 2022, two months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of the country.

In the self-published book, available on Amazon, Routh strongly criticized Trump and even encouraged Iran to assassinate him.

“You are free to kill Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran.

Routh, who was active on social media, said he voted for Trump in 2016, but criticized him in a June 2020 post.

“I and the world hoped that President Trump would be different and better than the candidate,” he wrote. “I will be happy if you [sic] away.’

He also did not appear to be a fan of President Joe Biden.

“Sleepy Joe stands for nothing, no plans, no ideas,” he wrote in a March 5, 2020, X-post.