NationalWatch

China slapped new export controls on a batch of minerals such as antimony – vital for the U.S. defense industry as a flame-retardant component used in machine bearings – in a move that could send prices in the defense sector soaring. 

The little-known metal antimony is used in ammunition, infrared missiles, nuclear weapons and night vision goggles, as well as batteries and photovoltaic equipment. China produced nearly half of the world’s antimony last year.

The limits, which kicked in on Sunday, apply to six antimony-related products, including antimony ore, antimony metals and antimony oxide.

The U.S. consumed some 22,000 tons of antimony last year. China accounted for 63% of U.S. imports of antimony metal and oxide last year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The next largest supplier, Belgium, offered some 8%. 

The material is being restricted “in order to safeguard national security and interests, and fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

A Chinese villager weighs antimony ore he collected from an illegal mine at Lengshuijiang. China is now limiting exports of the substance.

CHINA FREES US PASTOR AFTER 20 YEARS OF WRONGFUL DETAINMENT 

The U.S. and other nations have been scrambling to scale back their reliance on China for key materials for the defense and energy sectors. Yet still, China is the leading import source for 25 essential minerals, including tungsten, germanium, magnesium, barite, antimony, most rare earths, indium, graphite, gallium, and arsenic. 

It’s just the latest in a set of curbs on exports introduced over the past year.

In December, China banned the export of technology to make rare earth magnets, which followed another ban on exporting technology to extract and separate critical materials. 

Last year, it slapped export controls on gallium, germanium and graphite in part of a retaliatory trade war after the U.S. limited exports on advanced semiconductor chips to China. 

“In the first Cold War against the Soviet Union, we were aligned against the Soviet Union with not importing national security-sensitive things,” said Rob Greenway, a former National Security Council (NSC) official. “We were a net exporter across the board. Since we’ve become a net importer across the board, we have massive vulnerabilities, and our regulatory structures have not in any way kept pace with that.”

Often used as a flame retardant, the little-known metal antimony, mined in facilities like the above, is used in ammunition, infrared missiles, nuclear weapons and night vision goggles, as well as batteries and photovoltaic equipment. China produced nearly half of the world’s antimony last year.

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Last year, China, led by Xi Jinping, slapped export controls on gallium, germanium and graphite in part of a retaliatory trade war after the U.S. limited exports on advanced semiconductor chips to China.

“Our partners – Japan, South Korea, Scandinavian countries, Central American countries – they’re enormously frustrated, because not only do they have the same problem, but we’re not making it easier for them,” Greenway, now a director at the Allison Center for National Security, went on. “In some cases, we’re making it easier for China. We’re taxing Taiwan’s exports, including semiconductors, more than we are Chinese exports.”

Antimony prices have nearly doubled to a record $22,750 per ton this year and export controls are expected to drive them even higher. 

The new rules require sellers to apply for a sign-off from the Chinese government through a license to sell any related dual-use civilian and military materials and technology, a process which typically takes close to three months. 

“China’s new restrictions on antimony – which is used in everything from night vision goggles to nuclear weapons to tanks – will require exporters to apply for certain licenses that the Chinese Communist Party could delay or refuse outright,” said Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va. Wittman leads a working group on critical minerals policy in Congress.

“As the largest producer and processor of antimony, the CCP is using the same playbook as it did for gallium and germanium to demonstrate its market dominance and put Western economies at risk – this is why we must diversify our critical mineral supply chains away from China.”

One U.S.-based company, Perpetua Resources, is looking to produce domestic antimony with support from the Pentagon and the U.S. Export-Import Bank. It’s run into opposition from environmental groups and its first production was slated for 2028, should it obtain permits later this year. 

But China’s restrictions have prompted the company to look for ways to speed up production. 

“We are looking at things that we can do during construction to get antimony out the door sooner for some of these strategic needs,” Jon Cherry, Perpetua’s CEO, told Reuters.

“The (US) Department of Defense is aware of the critical nature of antimony and the short supply available. We’ve been hearing from a lot of different sources about the lack of supply for antimony, that the market is very tight and getting tighter daily.”

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In a less closely watched move, China is also limiting exports on superabrasive materials, industrial diamonds with the highest level of hardness, and the machines that make them. Such materials are used across industries in the U.S. and are essential in the defense and energy sectors. 

“It really, truly has the ability to crater the U.S. economy. This is really terrifying,” said Nazak Nikakthar, a former senior Commerce Department official.

“It’s not a glamorous sector, but there is a national security obligation to alert the world to it – to build capacity in the United States [of superabrasives] to support the defense industrial base will take two to three years.”

Former President Obama will make appearances on TikTok to push for voter registration, a report says. 

As part of a broader Democratic initiative to reach approximately 30 million potential voters through non-traditional means on National Voter Registration Day, Obama conducted a series of interviews with 25-year-old TikTok influencer and non-profit director Carlos Espina for TikTok, Axios reported. 

Espina, who has 10.5 million followers on the Chinese-owned platform, has made appearances with President Biden and Vice President Harris on the app in recent months. Playing into the traditional Democratic advantage among young Americans under 30, Obama is trying to move the dial for Harris in encouraging TikTok viewers to visit IWillVote.com, register and make a plan for Election Day. 

The Harris-Walz campaign is also planning to target young Americans with voter registration initiatives online and on campuses in key battleground states for National Voter Registration Day, Axios reported. 

OBAMA’S HALF BROTHER RIPS BIDEN-HARRIS AGENDA WHILE HYPING SECOND TRUMP TERM: ‘WE’RE GOING TO WIN’

Barack Obama poses for a selfie during the Friday Four Ball of the first round of the 2024 Solheim Cup on Sept.13, 2024, in Gainesville, Virginia.  (Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Biden campaign and the Harris campaign afterward have called on Obama in the past to help raise money among wealthy donors and small-donor party activists. The Harris campaign also pulled a portion of Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention during which he used a suggestive hand gesture while discussing former President Trump’s “crowd sizes” to use in a recent campaign video. 

The voter registration push comes a day after attorneys for TikTok faced off with the U.S. government in federal court in Washington, D.C., arguing a law that could ban the platform in a few short months is unconstitutional, while the Justice Department said the app needed to eliminate a national security risk. 

Attorneys for both sides – and content creators – were pressed on their best arguments for and against the law that forces TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance to break ties by mid-January or lose one of their biggest markets in the world. 

The TikTok Inc. building is seen in Culver City, Calif., on March 17, 2023.  (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

Biden signed the measure in April as the culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the U.S. government has said is collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government. 

BIDEN CAMPAIGN TO STAY ON TIKTOK EVEN AFTER PRESIDENT SIGNS LAW TO FORCE SALE OR BAN APP IN US

Officials have also warned the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content in a way that is difficult to detect.

Barack Obama speaks during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024.  (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump, who first raised national security concerns about TikTok in 2020, warned allies in March that now banning the platform would benefit Meta-owned Facebook, which Trump has claimed hampered his 2020 re-election bid.

Biden’s campaign joined TikTok in February with a Superbowl-themed video. After Biden discontinued his re-election campaign in July, Harris took to TikTok stating, “Thought I would get on here myself.” 

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Trump joined TikTok in June with a video showing him waving to fans at an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight in Newark, New Jersey. UFC CEO Dana White declared “the president is now on TikTok,” to which Trump replied, “It’s my honor,” as the song “American Bad A–” by Kid Rock played. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Several Democrat politicians have faced scrutiny for their anti-Trump rhetoric, which has intensified after the former president was the target of a second assassination attempt on Sunday amid claims from the media that his rhetoric is the reason for increased division in the United States. 

Earlier this year, President Biden told donors in a private call that the media isn’t doing enough to scrutinize Trump and that it was “time to put Trump in the bulls-eye.” Biden, after the first assassination attempt against Trump, acknowledged it was a “mistake” to use that term.

Biden, along with VP Kamala Harris, have accused Trump of being a “threat to Democracy” on several occasions. 

Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, who quickly apologized for the comment, said last year that Trump is so “dangerous” to Democracy that he “has to be eliminated.”

MSNBC HOST ASKS IF TRUMP CAMPAIGN WILL CALL FOR ‘TONING DOWN’ RHETORIC AFTER SHOOTING OUTSIDE HIS GOLF CLUB

Trump has placed blame on Democrat “rhetoric” for the attacks on his life (Getty Images)

“More and more dangerous. We saw what happened on January 6th, when he used his inflammatory rhetoric now, and his recent truth social post is incredibly, incredibly scary for anyone that might be trying to work in government. And it is just unquestionable at this point that man cannot see public office again. He is not only unfit, he is destructive to our democracy, and he has to be eliminated.”

Goldman strongly condemned political violence after the first assassination against Trump saying that he was “horrified” by the news. Following the second assassination attempt, Goldman said he was “outraged.”

Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters has long been criticized by Republicans for comments viewed to be inciting violence, including telling protesters in Minnesota to “get more confrontational” and encouraging Democrats to confront Trump officials if they see them in public.

“I just don’t even know why there aren’t uprisings all over the country, and maybe there will be, when people realize that this is a policy that they defend,” then Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi said during a 2018 press conference while talking about Trump’s immigration policies. “It’s a horrible thing and I don’t see any prospect for legislation here.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Pelosi’s office said, “There never is a place for political violence of any kind in America. As the investigation into yesterday’s incident continues, let us commend law enforcement for their actions to keep the former President safe from harm.”

TRUMP SAYS HE ‘PROBABLY TOOK A BULLET TO THE HEAD’ DUE TO DEM RHETORIC

Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Routh was seen being taken into custody Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in bodycam footage released Monday. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office )

Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was the victim of political violence in 2022 when a man broke into their home and attacked him with a hammer. 

Trump told Fox News Digital after the assassination attempt in Florida on Sunday that he sees a connection between rhetoric from the left and that failed attack. 

“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump said of the gunman. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.” 

Trump pointed to Biden and Harris’ past comments casting Trump as a “threat to democracy,” while telling Americans they are “unity” leaders. 

“They are the opposite,” Trump said. “These are people that want to destroy our country.” 

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Former President Trump was injured during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

He added: “It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat.”

On Monday, Trump released a list of dozens of Democrats who have made provocative comments against him including a clip from Harris saying, “Does one of us have to come out alive” when talking about if she’d rather be stuck on elevator with Trump, then-VP Pence, or former Sen. Jeff Sessions.

“Democrats used increasingly incendiary rhetoric against President Trump in the days, weeks, and months leading up to the two assassination attempts,” the press release stated.

Harris said on Monday she was “deeply disturbed” by Sunday’s attempted attack on Trump and Biden said, “Thank God” the president was unharmed.
 

A conservative watchdog group sued the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) seeking documents relating to the situation that has left two U.S. astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) for several more months.

The Oversight Project’s executive director told Fox News Digital on Monday he and his group have legally sought emails between NASA political appointees and the White House, including the office of Vice President Harris, who also holds the title of chair of the National Space Council.

The filing by Mike Howell, head of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, also demands outgoing emails to Harris’ presidential campaign. Just as Harris was tasked with assuaging the root causes of illegal immigration as the so-called border czar, her role as vice president makes her essentially the lead adviser on space policy in that regard.

“This looks like to me and other experts that Kamala Harris, the space czar, chose politics over our astronauts,” Howell said, inferring that there may have been a political calculation against bringing astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams home as planned.

PENNSYLVANIANS OFFER MIXED ANSWERS ON WHERE HARRIS STANDS ON KEY ISSUES

In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is docked to the Harmony module of the International Space Station on July 3, 2024. (NASA via AP)

“It’s very bizarre that the mainstream media seems not to care about this massive scandal. We’re going to continue to investigate this and get Americans the answers they deserve.”

The National Space Council (NSpC) had originally been organized in a slightly different manner under former President George H.W. Bush before it was disbanded and reorganized under former President Trump.

Trump himself unveiled the first new branch of the military in decades, the U.S. Space Force, at a 2018 NSpC meeting.

In its filing, the Oversight Project seeks to compel NASA to share correspondence from agency chief of staff Bale Dalton III, Associate Administrator James Free and five other senior officials. It also seeks communications between NASA and officials in the commercial crew program at Boeing, the company that manufactured the Starliner capsule that took Wilmore and Williams to the ISS this summer.

PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS TAUNT HARRIS RALLYGOERS AS VEEP SUPPORTER HITS BACK: ‘WHAT ABOUT HAMAS’

Vice President Harris takes part in a National Space Council meeting. (DHS)

A source close to the matter pointed to the stipulated responsibilities of the NSpC chair, as outlined by Trump in his 2021 executive order establishing the council.

“The Chair shall serve as the President’s principal advisor on national space policy and strategy …” the first stipulation reads.

The chair of the NSpC, therefore, has substantive advisory authority over NASA’s decision-making, the source said.

In an August press briefing, a NASA official said there was a “little disagreement in terms of the level of risk” between the agency and Boeing after the capsule suffered propulsion issues and elemental leaks. Ultimately, the Starliner craft safely returned to Earth unmanned on Sept. 7.

A few weeks prior, Boeing officials said in a statement they remained confident in Starliner’s ability to return safely with crew aboard: “We continue to support NASA’s requests for additional testing, data, analysis and reviews to affirm the spacecraft’s safe undocking and landing capabilities. Our confidence is based on this abundance of valuable testing from Boeing and NASA.”

“The data also supports root cause assessments for the helium and thruster issues and flight rationale for Starliner and its crew’s return to Earth,” the statement reads.

On X, formerly Twitter, Howell listed the curriculum vitae of a handful of NASA hires made while Harris has led the NSpC, including a veteran of New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, another from the Jacksonville Symphony and an individual whose “scientific” major was “political science.”

“Space is serious business. Kamala Harris obviously has no business running the National Space Council… They’re lost in space right now. Part of the reason they’re lost in space is that our NASA has been turned into another woke-DEI, dismal excuse for a government agency,” he said.

Howell also shared a copy of a document showing “strategic objectives” of the “NASA DEIA Strategic Plan.” 

“The fact is that Vice President Kamala Harris’ record as Border Czar is as awful as her record as Space Czar,” Howell said Monday.

Howell said it is important that the public see any such correspondence of a political nature between NASA, the vice president’s camp and/or Boeing because other nations like China are watching for such “sign[s] of weakness.”

“It seems that Harris signaled a willingness to cede America’s space superiority in the name of an effort to ‘save democracy,’” he said, suggesting the DEIA priority may jeopardize national security. “When is enough, enough?”

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Vice President Harris (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The astronauts, however, took their extended trip in stride.

“I love being in space. This is my happy place,” Williams said.

Wilmore will miss his daughter’s final year of high school but notably requested his absentee ballot Friday so that he would be able to vote from orbit.

Fox News Digital reached out to Harris’ governmental office and the Harris campaign but did not receive a response. 

In a response to Fox News Digital regarding the FOIA, a NASA spokesperson stated that Harris and NSpC staff “received frequent updates on the Starliner Crewed Flight Test.”

“While the National Space Council works closely with civil, national security, commercial, and international partners to advance the nation’s space priorities, it does not make operational spaceflight safety recommendations or decisions,” the spokesperson wrote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former President Trump will host a town hall event in Flint, Michigan, on Tuesday, the first campaign event since the latest attempt on his life.

Trump will be at Flint’s Dort Financial Center on Tuesday evening for a town hall-style event, where he is expected to take questions from the audience and focus remarks on the auto industry and inflation.

The event comes just two days after Trump survived a second assassination attempt, this time while playing golf at Trump National Golf Club in Florida on Sunday.

WITNESS SAW TRUMP ASSASSINATION SUSPECT FLEE BUSHES, TOOK PHOTO OF GETAWAY CAR

Former President Trump (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump’s Flint town hall will be moderated by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is expected to take on a larger role in campaigning for the former president in the homestretch of the campaign.

The event comes as the campaigns are now within the last 50 days of the election, with both candidates scrambling to solidify support ahead of November. Michigan figures to play a key role for both Trump and his opponent, Vice President Harris, being one of the swing states most likely to turn the election in either candidate’s favor.

According to the Real Clear Politics polling average, Harris currently holds a slight lead over Trump in the state with an average of 48.3% support to Trump’s 47.6%.

Vice President Harris (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

WHO IS RYAN WESLEY ROUTH: ALLEGED GUNMAN AT TRUMP GOLF CLUB

However, current polling in Michigan compares favorably for Trump compared to where he stood in 2016 and 2020, when Trump trailed Clinton in the state at this point in the 2016 election by an average of 5.2 points and trailed President Biden at this point in 2020 by 4.8 points.

Trump would go on to win Michigan in 2016 by less than one percentage point, while Biden topped Trump in Michigan in 2020 by less than three percentage points.

Sen. JD Vance attends Charity Day 2024 hosted by the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund at BGC Group on Sept. 11, 2024, in New York City. (Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund)

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Trump’s Tuesday event will not be the only trip for the presidential campaigns to Michigan this week, with Harris expected to host a “Unite for America” livestream event from Michigan with Oprah Winfrey on Thursday. Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, is expected to hold an event in Sparta, Michigan, on Tuesday.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

This is beyond unacceptable.

Donald Trump deserves better protection than this. The country deserves better for the once-and-possibly-future president.

If the Secret Service can’t protect Trump on his own golf course, what has become of our political system?

Especially since the suspected shooter with the AK-47-style rifle has a criminal record.

SUSPECT ‘RYAN ROUTH’ IN CUSTODY FOLLOWING SECOND ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON TRUMP AT FLORIDA GOLF CLUB

The second attempted assassination of Donald Trump in two months is profoundly chilling. The first one, where the bullet grazed his ear in Butler, Pa., seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime fluke. Sunday’s attempt, at Trump’s West Palm Beach course, seemed predictable, although Secret Service agents, to their credit, reacted more quickly.

Although the suspect was only several hundred yards away, an agent, having seen the barrel of the rifle sticking through the fence, shot at the gunman, who was soon captured and arrested. 

While the shooter – whom I’m not naming to avoid giving him the infamy he craved, as evidenced by his GoPro camera – has a criminal history, that didn’t stop him from obtaining the assault rifle.

The fact that former President Trump was, once again, nearly assassinated by a notoriety-seeking gunman is nothing short of unacceptable. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

He faced two gun charges in court yesterday: possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a Soviet-era semi-automatic rifle, developed in the 1940s, with an obliterated serial number.

Investigators say the suspect had a loaded SKS-style semi-automatic assault rifle. 

Trump was reported to be initially shaken – who wouldn’t be? – but later joked about wanting to finish his putt, and spent time talking to journalists and supporters. 

TRUMP SHOOTING PLOT SUSPECT ROUTH WAS INTERVIEWED BY NYT ON UKRAINE WAR EFFORTS IN 2023: ‘SOUNDED RIDICULOUS’

It took less than 24 hours for the former president to blame Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, although both had put out statements of sympathy, with the vice president saying she is “deeply disturbed” by what happened in Florida.

Trump told Fox’s Brooke Singman: 

“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it. Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country – both from the inside and out.”

“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” the former President told Fox’s Brooke Singman. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump cited past Biden and Harris comments as a “threat to democracy,” while claiming they are “unity” leaders.

“They are the opposite,” Trump said. “These are people that want to destroy our country…

“It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat. They do it with a combination of rhetoric and lawsuits they wrap me up in. These are the things that dangerous fools, like the shooter, listen to – that is the rhetoric they listen to, and the same with the first one,” Trump said.

And finally: “They use highly inflammatory language. “I can use it too — far better than they can — but I don’t.”

I doubt you could find many people, even among the former president’s allies, who say he doesn’t sometimes use inflammatory language. So each side portrays the other as a danger to democracy.

A New York Times reporter interviewed the 58-year-old shooter last year for an article on Americans volunteering to fight in Ukraine. 

Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Routh was seen being taken into custody Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in bodycam footage released Monday. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office )

By the time they got off the phone, Thomas Gibbons-Neff writes of the suspect’s plan to take several hundred Afghan fighters to support Ukraine, “it was clear he was in way over his head.

“He talked of buying off corrupt officials, forging passports and doing whatever it took to get his Afghan cadre to Ukraine, but he had no real way to accomplish his goals. At one point he mentioned arranging a U.S. military transport flight from Iraq to Poland with Afghan refugees willing to fight.

“I shook my head. It sounded ridiculous, but the tone in [his] voice said otherwise. He was going to back Ukraine’s war effort, no matter what.”

RYAN ROUTH, ARMED MAN ARRESTED AT TRUMP GOLF COURSE, POSTED PROLIFICALLY ABOUT TRUMP, POLITICS

In a $2.99 book, and the Washington Post reports, the gunman wrote that he “must take part of the blame” for electing a “brainless” president, obviously referring to Trump. “You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of the deal.” the book declares. 

Okay, so he didn’t like Trump (while the Butler shooter was willing to kill Trump or the president). But what connects these and other shootings is that these are life’s losers, desperate to make some kind of mark.

Biden, by the way, told reporters yesterday: “Thank God the president’s okay…the service needs more help. And I think that Congress should respond to their needs if they in fact need more services.”

Despite Democrats’ insinuations that rhetoric is to blame for political violence, they join mainstream media in drilling Trump and Vance for their alleged incitement of anti-immigrant violence. (Screenshot/CNN)

In 2022, a woman describing herself as the suspect’s fiancée raised almost $2,000 by saying he “put his life at home on hold and traveled to Kyiv in April to support the people of Ukraine. He plans on staying for at least 90 days and stays at a hostel with a military unit.” There were photos.

Here’s where the whole thing is drenched in hypocrisy. In the wake of Jan. 6 and Trump’s unproven accusations of a stolen election, why shouldn’t Democrats be able to criticize him?

But while denying that their rhetoric might be poisoning the atmosphere, the Democrats turn around and blame Trump and JD Vance for inciting violence in Springfield, Ohio, where a series of bomb threats (which can’t be blamed on any public figures) have shut down schools, city hall and a hospital.

SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES

The 15,000 or so Haitians there under protected status who are filling jobs in the town have caused friction, but Trump’s “they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats,” while debunked, has gone viral with online mockery. So the Dems are more than happy to hurl the incitement charge when immigrants are involved.

New Hampshire’s Libertarian Party has tweeted: “Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero.” That is sick. The party later deleted the X posting, but only to comply with a provider’s rules.   

It is difficult to protect a presidential candidate on a golf course, because members, and even regular players, have access to a long, flat area with almost no place to take cover. The Secret Service, meanwhile, had asked Trump to hold only indoor rallies so its agents could control access, but he decided against it.

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Here’s the nutso part. If Trump was back in the White House, the agency would shut down the entire golf course to protect him. But right now, the Secret Service can’t – or won’t – even though he’s one of two people who could be in the Oval Office next January.

That should change, immediately, because this is starting to feel like Russian roulette.

Former President Donald Trump’s life was put in extreme danger again Sunday, security and military experts told Fox News Digital, though the shooter’s ability to actually harm the former president largely came down to his skill level.

“Wide open areas like golf courses are notoriously difficult to secure,” Josh Schirbard, a former SWAT commander and sniper team leader, told Fox News Digital. 

“The routes of ingress are almost infinite, and most golf courses contain an abundance of wooded areas, shrubs, and other landscape features that make masking one’s approach even easier. Given these challenges, the best chance for an assassination attempt would be to use terrain masking and distance as your allies to try to make a long-range rifle shot.”

The comments come after the FBI said Sunday it is investigating an apparent attempted assassination on Trump, this time after shots were fired near the former president at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

DONALD TRUMP SAFE AFTER SHOTS FIRED OUTSIDE PALM BEACH GOLF CLUB

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 13. (AP/Jae C. Hong)

The suspect, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, was arrested Sunday after fleeing the scene.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters Sunday that the gunman was roughly 300 to 500 yards away from Trump and was armed with an AK-47 style rifle, but was spotted by a U.S. Secret Service agent who “engaged” the suspect. 

Pictures released Monday showed the rifle was actually an SKS, which has similar capabilities to an AK-47.

Pictures of evidence found at the fence of former President Donald Trumps golf course are shown at a press conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024 following a second attempt on the presidents life. (Candan Khanna / AFP via Getty Images)

Schirbard noted that Trump faced increased risk because he was mobile, arguing that the shooter’s plan could have been to wait until the former president entered a closer range to attempt his shot.

“This is a question of commitment,” Schirbard said. “The beauty of this environment and type of engagement is that the farther away you can engage the target, the more likely you are to be able to escape.  Multiple routes of ingress also equal multiple concealed routes of egress.  If you wait until he is on top of you, yes, you have a much greater chance of success but at the cost of being found and gunned down. 

“The fact that [Secret Service] saw him sticking the barrel out of the bushes tells me that he was preparing to take that shot.  He also clearly had an escape plan, which he executed, also leads me to believe that he was not prepared to die to carry out the assassination,” he continued.

But taking the longer shot made it less likely for Routh to actually hit the former president.

“There are some challenges with that kind of shot and this weapon system,” Schirbard said. “The ‘standard’ SKS fires a 7.62mm round and while its incredibly reliable, and ‘technically’ has an effective range of 500+ yards, it’s not known for being very accurate.  The standard SKS can only maintain 3-5 MOA accuracy, which means in a perfect environment, rounds shot at 100 yards will land in a 3-5” circle.  While this may seem accurate, standard “‘ong range’ style rifles used by police and military snipers boast well within a 1 MOA or 1″ circle at 100 yards.”

Chad Robichaux, former Force Recon Marine and Department of Defense (DoD) contractor, told Fox News Digital that the weapon the suspect used could have been effective at about 1,000 yards.

“Assuming it was a rifle with a caliber between 5.56 and 7.62, a skilled shooter can effectively hit a target at 1,000 yards,” Robichaux said. “So, if the shooter had any decent skills, he was certainly within range to kill President Trump.”

Robichaux also noted that even for an “entry level Marine,” a shot of “500 yards with no scope” should be able to “hit a human-sized target.”

Sheriff vehicles are pictured near Trump International Golf Club, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla., after gunshots were reported in the vicinity of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Stephanie Matat)

JOY REID SUGGESTS TRUMP COULDN’T ‘AVOID THE CONSEQUENCES’ OF HIS OWN RHETORIC AFTER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Meanwhile, Mark “Oz” Geist, the bestselling co-author of “13 Hours” and a security and military consultant, told Fox News Digital that the scope may not have made much of a difference.

“A scope wouldn’t necessarily increase the maximum effective range but would provide the shooter with greater accuracy,” Geist said.

Geist also noted the setup of the shooter, arguing that it was likely Routh knew there was a chance his position would be compromised.

“Also included in the pictures was a chain-link fence with a backpack and another carrying case attached to it, which has been indicated to contain ceramic plates, with a gap left to shoot through. This setup suggests that the potential shooter had placed these items in a defensive position, possibly in anticipation of being compromised and receiving return fire from the Secret Service,” Geist said.

Sheriff vehicles are pictured near Trump International Golf Club, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla., after gunshots were reported in the vicinity of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump. (Peter Burke/Fox News Digital)

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Trump was unharmed in the incident, with senior campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wile writing after the incident that an “evil monster” made an attempt on Trump’s life “for the second time in two months.”

“Thankfully, no one was injured at the Golf Course. President Trump and everyone accompanying him are safe thanks to the great work of the United States Secret Service,” they wrote.

Fifty days until Election Day – and the race for the White House is rocked once again.

Two months after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in western Pennsylvania, the Secret Service opened fire while Trump was playing golf at one of his courses in southern Florida to prevent what appeared to be a second assassination attempt against the former president.

After decades without an assassination attempt against a sitting president or major party presidential nominee, for the second time this summer, the nation has narrowly avoided a tragedy of gigantic proportions that would only further deepen the nation’s already firmly cemented polarization.

“Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!” the former president vowed in a fundraising email to supporters on Sunday, following the incident.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SECOND ATTEMPTED ASSASINATION OF DONALD TRUMP

Members of the FBI are seen at the crime scene outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, 2024 following a shooting incident at former President Donald Trump’s golf course. The incident is being investigated as an assassination attempt against the former president. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

A top Trump ally, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, argued in a statement that “as Americans we must unite behind him in November to protect our republic and bring peace back to the world.”

It is way too early to gauge whether the latest incident will impact the race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed President Biden. 

The only thing that is certain is that the time left in the 2024 campaign is fleeting.

Harris emphasized that the “clock is ticking,” as she called on supporters at a fundraiser on Saturday to volunteer and mobilize their friends to vote.

“Please join our teams in our battleground states and help register folks to vote. … And talk with your neighbors and your friends about the stakes,” she urged.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE SHOW

With the first and potentially only debate between the Democratic and Republican Party presidential nominees now in the rearview mirror, and early voting and absentee balloting starting to get underway, the showdown between Harris and Trump remains a margin-of-error race in the seven crucial battleground states that determined the outcome of Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and will likely determine the winner of the 2024 election.

Fox News Power Rankings presidential forecast.

The latest Fox News Power Rankings currently rates six of the seven states as toss-ups.

Those states – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada – have seen the bulk of the campaign traffic from the Democratic and GOP tickets and are the battlefields in the ad wars between the two sides. 

“I think this is going to be a turnout exercise. Whoever does a better job of turning out their voters in those seven states will win,” veteran Republican strategist Nicole Schlinger told Fox News.

HARRIS AND TRUMP HOLD DUELING RALLIES IN KEY BATTLEGROUNDS

Harris’ campaign, touting an “historic, 24-hour haul,” last week showcased their fundraising prowess by hauling in $47 million in the immediate aftermath of the debate.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The money raked in by the Harris campaign was the latest sign of the vice president’s surge in fundraising in the nearly two months since she replaced Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 national ticket.

“Fifty-days is a lifetime in politics, but today I’d much rather be Kamala Harris than Donald Trump,” longtime Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo, a veteran of multiple presidential campaigns, said. “I think the enthusiasm remains overwhelmingly with the Democrats but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

CASH DASH: HARRIS BRINGS IN BIG BUCKS AFTER DEBATE WITH TRUMP

The Harris campaign highlights that it is investing much of its fundraising dollars into its grassroots outreach and get-out-the vote efforts, noting that it is “putting its resources into reaching the voters who will decide the election.”

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Bojangles Coliseum, in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The large ground game operation, originally constructed when Biden was the nominee, according to the campaign, includes over 312 offices and more than 2,000 staff in the key battlegrounds coordinated between the presidential campaign, the DNC and state Democratic parties.

In a straight Harris campaign and the DNC comparison to the Trump campaign and the RNC, the Democrats enjoy a sizable ground game advantage. However, Trump is relying on a handful of aligned outside groups to help run turnout operations that are traditionally performed by a presidential campaign. 

Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley took issue with the suggestion that the Democrats enjoyed a stronger get-out-the-vote operation.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024 in Tucson, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

“No, they don’t have a stronger ground game. I feel very, very comfortable about the ground game we’re putting in place through Trump Force 47,” the RNC chair emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview last week.

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Whatley pledged that “we absolutely have the resources that we need to get our message out to all the voters that we’re talking to and feel very comfortable that we’re going to be able to see this campaign through, and we’re going to win on November 5.”

Additionally, Schlinger, a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns, says on the key issue, Trump has the advantage.

“Voters whose number one issue is the economy believe the economy is headed in the wrong direction and believe Donald Trump will do a better job fixing that,” she emphasized. “Harris, I think, has an uphill climb explaining how she’ll do anything different than Joe Biden on that.”

Schlinger added for undecided voters, familiarity with the GOP nominee could give Trump an edge.

“Nearly a third of voters have said they need to know more about Kamala Harris. With President Trump you know what you get, and I think that’s an advantage for Republicans,” she argued.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

GOP Sen. Josh Hawley released a wide-ranging report Monday morning detailing the failures of the Secret Service in connection with the first assassination attempt against former President Trump in July, including new whistleblower allegations that are “highly damaging to the credibility” of the agency. 

Hawley, R-Mo., shared his report with the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump to supplement their investigation. 

Hawley found a “compounding pattern of negligence, sloppiness, and gross incompetence that goes back years, all of which culminated in an assassination attempt that came inches from succeeding.” 

“On July 13, 2024, former President Donald J. Trump was nearly killed by an assassin’s bullet while hosting a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Secret Service failed to prevent it,” the Hawley report states. “It was the most stunning breakdown in presidential security since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.” 

TRUMP BLAMES BIDEN-HARRIS ‘RHETORIC’ FOR LATEST ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, SAYS HE WILL ‘SAVE THE COUNTRY’

Former President Trump was injured during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Hawley said the Secret Service, FBI and Department of Homeland Security “have all tried to evade real accountability.” 

“These agencies and their leaders have slow-walked congressional investigations, misled the American people, and shirked responsibility,” the report states. 

After the first of two assassination attempts against Trump in just over two months, Hawley visited the Butler rally site to interview whistleblowers and opened up a whistleblower tip line, encouraging those with relevant information to share with officials. 

“The resulting findings are highly damaging to the credibility of the Secret Service and DHS,” the report states. “They reveal a compounding pattern of negligence, sloppiness, and gross incompetence that goes back years, all of which culminated in an assassination attempt that came inches from succeeding.” 

Whistleblowers provided valuable information to Hawley, including that the Secret Service’s Counter Surveillance Division, which performs threat assessments of event sites, did not perform a typical evaluation of the Butler site and was not present on the day of the rally. 

Hawley also learned that Secret Service personnel “declined multiple offers from a local law enforcement partner to deploy drone technology, despite the fact that the would-be assassin used a drone to survey the rally site mere hours before the attempted assassination.” 

Sen. Josh Hawley told Jesse Watters that he has been in contact with whistleblowers about the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Trump. (Getty Images | Fox News)

Hawley also learned that the Secret Service’s Office of Protective Operations-Manpower told agents in charge of security for the rally “not to request additional security resources because they would be denied.” 

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: WHISTLEBLOWERS CLAIM THAT THEY WERE ‘WOEFULLY UNPREPARED’ TO PROVIDE SECURITY

The report also outlines other whistleblower allegations, including that law enforcement personnel “abandoned” the rooftop where would-be assassin Thomas Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump “because of hot weather.”

The report also said the Secret Service agent with the responsibility of the security of the site, including “line-of-site concerns,” was allegedly “known to be incompetent.” 

“That incompetence led to the placement of items like flags around the Butler stage and catwalk, impairing visibility,” the report states. 

Whistleblowers also told Hawley that supplemental DHS personnel were used to fill in shortages of Secret Service personnel on the day of the rally. Some of those agents were allegedly pulled off of child exploitation cases. Whistleblowers said their training was “merely a poor-quality, two-hour webinar.” 

Meanwhile, Hawley revealed in the report that the lead agent responsible for the Butler rally “failed a key examination during their federal law enforcement training to become a Secret Service agent.” 

Hawley also was told that Secret Service intelligence units – or teams of Secret Service agents paired with state and local law enforcement to handle reports of suspicious persons – were allegedly absent from the Butler rally.

Whistleblowers also told Hawley that the hospital site where Trump received treatment after the shooting was “poorly secured, and the hospital site agent could not answer basic questions about site security.” 

Kimberly Cheatle, who was the director of the Secret Service at the time of the rally, resigned from her post amid mounting pressure from congressional lawmakers on both sides of the aisle after the massive security failure. 

The Secret Service’s assistant director, Michael Plati, is also retiring. 

At least five Secret Service agents have been placed on leave since the assassination attempt in July. 

Republican candidate Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face as Secret Service agents rush him off the stage at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump was shot with Crooks’ bullet, which pierced the upper part of his right ear. As Secret Service agents led him away, with blood dripping down his cheek and his right ear, the former president raised his arm defiantly. 

Trump, just a day later, traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the 2024 Republican National Convention. He attended events each night of the convention, and on the final night, formally accepted the GOP presidential nomination. 

Hawley released his report just a day after the second assassination attempt against Trump. 

Trump was golfing at his course at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, Sunday when Secret Service agents spotted and began shooting at another would-be assassin – Ryan Wesley Routh – who allegedly had an AK-47 pointed at the former president on the green. 

Routh was arrested. Routh laughed and smiled ahead of his first court appearance in Florida on Monday, Fox News confirmed. 

He was charged with possession of firearm by convicted felon and possession of firearm with obliterated serial number. 

The first offense carried a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and supervised release. The second offense carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and supervised release. Routh responded “yes” when asked if he understood the penalties. 

TRUMP SAYS HE WAS ‘SHOT WITH A BULLET’ IN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AT PENNSYLVANIA RALLY

Fox News is told additional federal charges are possible. The initial charges announced Monday will keep Routh in custody.

The detention hearing is scheduled for Sept. 23, and the probable cause hearing is set for Sept. 30.

The Trump International Golf Club on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Routh has had at least 100 run-ins with law enforcement before his most recent arrest. 

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said the rhetoric of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris is causing him to be “shot at,” following the second assassination attempt against him since July, while telling Fox News Digital that the suspected gunman “acted” on “highly inflammatory language” of Democrats.  

“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump said of the gunman in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country – both from the inside and out.” 

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Trump pointed to Biden and Harris’ past comments casting Trump as a “threat to democracy,” while telling Americans they are “unity” leaders. 

“They are the opposite,” Trump said. “These are people that want to destroy our country.” 

He added: “It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat.”

As headlines spread like wildfire that former President Trump was likely targeted in a second assassination attempt, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted a message to X demanding supporters “stop” the “extreme MAGA Republicans.”

“Extreme MAGA Republicans are the party of a national abortion ban and Trump’s Project 2025,” Jeffries, D-N.Y., posted to X at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

“We must stop them.”

The statement was posted well after news broke that Trump was safe following what authorities described as a likely assassination attempt on his life. 

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SUSPECT LAUGHS, SMILES DURING FIRST COURT APPEARANCE IN FLORIDA

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaks at a press conference on the House Republican’s impeachment inquiry against President Biden at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 12, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Authorities in West Palm Beach, Florida, received calls of shots fired at Trump International Golf Club at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, with the Trump campaign issuing a statement after 2 p.m. that the 45th president was “safe following gunshots in his vicinity.”

About two hours after Jeffries posted about stopping “extreme MAGA Republicans,” he condemned the attack against Trump, posting at 5:33 p.m., “Political violence has no place in a democratic society.”

Trump spoke to Fox Digital on Monday morning and blamed rhetoric from Democrats, namely President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, for the attack on his life. 

“[The suspect] believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump said in the interview. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.” 

Former President Trump participates in a Fox News Town Hall with Sean Hannity at the New Holland Arena on Sept. 4, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat,” Trump added. 

WITNESS SAW TRUMP ASSASSINATION SUSPECT FLEE BUSHES, TOOK PHOTO OF GETAWAY CAR

Trump went on to say that his ABC News debate last week was “so biased and so out of control,” citing Harris’ comments claiming Trump supports Project 2025 and a national abortion ban. Jeffries also cited Project 2025 and the alleged plans for a national abortion ban in his X post Sunday. 

“Harris was the one lying about Project 2025, she lied about abortion, she lied about everything,” Trump said. “She was correcting me.” 

Screenshot: Fox News simulcast of ABC News Presidential Debate (Screenshot: Fox News simulcast of ABC News Presidential Debate)

Project 2025 was authored by conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, with Trump repeatedly saying on the campaign trail that he had no role in crafting what was billed as a blueprint for a future Republican administration. Trump has also repeatedly said that he would not impose a national abortion ban if re-elected, doubling down that abortion issues should be left to individual states. 

Authorities confirmed that the suspect arrested Sunday at the golf club is 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, a Hawaiian resident who has posted prolifically on social media about Trump and politics, Fox Digital found. 

Routh currently resides in Hawaii after spending the majority of his life in North Carolina, where he worked in construction, including owning a company called United Roofing, a background check conducted by Fox Digital shows. 

The suspect’s alleged social media accounts on Sunday afternoon showed he repeatedly posted about Trump, the war in Ukraine, the 2020 election and other world events. 

TRUMP BLAMES BIDEN-HARRIS ‘RHETORIC’ FOR LATEST ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, SAYS HE WILL ‘SAVE THE COUNTRY’

The account also weighed in on Trump’s assassination attempt in July, calling on Vice President Kamala Harris to visit those injured at the Pennsylvania Trump rally, because “Trump will never do anything for them.” 

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris wave on stage at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

“You and Biden should visit the injured people in the hospital from the Trump rally and attend the funeral of the murdered fireman. Trump will never do anything for them….show the world what compassion and humanity is all about,” he said in a reply message to Harris’ account on July 17. 

In another X post published on April 22, Routh appeared to quote a commonly used phrase by the Harris campaign, declaring, “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose.”

“Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA …make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose. We cannot afford to fail. The world is counting on us to show the way,” the account posted ahead of Biden dropping out of the race in July and Harris ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket. 

During Trump’s interview with Fox Digital, he cited rhetoric from Democrats describing him as a “threat to democracy” as a likely motivation for the attacks against him in recent weeks. He argued that while Democrats such as Biden and Harris call him a “threat to democracy,” they described themselves as “unity” leaders. 

RYAN ROUTH, ARMED MAN ARRESTED AT TRUMP GOLF COURSE, POSTED PROLIFICALLY ABOUT TRUMP, POLITICS

“They are the opposite,” Trump said. “These are people that want to destroy our country.” 

The X account appearing to belong to Routh also repeatedly issued messages related to the war in Ukraine, posting to X that he was ready to fly to Ukraine to fight Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

“I am flying to Ukraine to fight.  We need to launch a media campaign to encourage every human around the globe to meet in Ukraine and join in the fight.  We need hundreds of thousands of civilians to make the cost of war high for putin and a flood of fighters,” he posted on Feb. 17, 2022. 

Former President Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Routh is taken into custody Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in bodycam footage released Monday. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office )

Following repeated messages declaring his intention to fight on behalf of Ukraine, he posted in April that he was in Kyiv. 

“I am here in kyiv and want to use Independence Park to create a tent city of all the foreigners here in support to get thousands more foreign civilians to come and support Ukraine,” the account posted. 

Routh also has a lengthy rap sheet stretching out decades, most notably in North Carolina, where he racked up dozens of arrests for car infractions, such as driving without insurance, driving without a license and driving with an expired registration. 

DONALD TRUMP SAFE AFTER SHOTS FIRED OUTSIDE PALM BEACH GOLF CLUB

In 2002, Routh made local headlines when he was arrested at his roofing company’s office following a three-hour standoff with police, the Greensboro News & Record reported at the time. Routh had been pulled over by police during a traffic stop and put his hand on a gun during the stop, sparking him to drive to United Roofing and barricade himself in the building. He was ultimately arrested without incident. 

A court sketch depicts Ryan Routh in Federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Lothar Speer)

Fast-forward to Sunday afternoon, Routh was arrested after allegedly pointing a rifle through a chain-link fence, aiming it toward where Trump was playing golf, authorities said. 

Routh fled the scene in his car but was arrested on I-95. 

He appeared in federal court Monday morning wearing shackles and jail scrubs. He was seen laughing and smiling ahead of his first court appearance. 

Ryan Routh is accused of aiming a rifle at former President Trump while he was golfing at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

He faces charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Authorities said he could be hit with additional charges. 

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Routh will be arraigned on Sept. 30. 

Shortly following the attempt, Trump reassured supporters he was “safe and well,” while vowing to “never surrender.”

“There were gunshots in my vicinity but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!” he posted in a campaign message. “Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries’ office regarding his X post and Trump’s comments blaming Democratic rhetoric for the attempt Sunday but did not immediately receive a reply.

Former President Trump is pledging to “save our cities” from what he has called a “migrant invasion,” outlining his plans to cut a number of migrant programs if re-elected to the White House – amid an ongoing debate over Haitian migration.

“As President I will immediately end the migrant invasion of America,” Trump said in a social media post on Sunday.

Trump has spent much of his election campaign promising to secure the southern border. Last week he said he wants to be known as the “border president” and has previously promised to launch a mass deportation effort.

MEXICAN GOVERNMENT BUSES MIGRANTS TO US BORDER AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION BECOMES TOP ELECTION ISSUE

However, on Sunday he also refocused on broader migration policies, some not directly related to the southern border or illegal immigration – including the ending of the Biden-era use of humanitarian parole and the suspension of refugee resettlement.

“We will stop all migrant flights, end all illegal entries, terminate the Kamala phone app for smuggling illegals (CBP One App), revoke deportation immunity, suspend refugee resettlement, and return Kamala’s illegal migrants to their home countries (also known as remigration),” he said.

The remarks came after the influx of Haitian migrants into the small town of Springfield, Ohio, was in the spotlight. At last week’s presidential debate, Trump echoed viral claims that migrants had been seen eating pets and animals.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump said. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

FOCUS GROUP REACTS TO TRUMP CLAIM THAT MIGRANTS ARE ‘EATING THE DOGS’ IN OHIO TOWN

Officials in Springfield have denied that claim, saying there is no evidence or substantiated reports of such incidents. But local residents have expressed concern and anger about the impact that the influx of many more than 12,000 migrants from the impoverished country has had on their community.

Former President Trump participates in a Fox News Town Hall with Sean Hannity at the New Holland Arena on Sept. 4, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Trump’s proposals identified ways to limit the number of pathways for those, including Haitians, to enter or stay legally in the U.S. and which have been either created or expanded under the Biden administration.

Trump’s reference to migrant flights appears to refer to the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan parole processes, which allow up to 30,000 migrants from those countries to enter each month and be paroled into the U.S. for 18 months. Trump could both end CHNV, and also limit the renewal of the parole authorization.

Trump also mentioned ending “deportation immunity,” referring to Temporary Protected Status, which shields nationals of designated countries from deportation and offers them work permits. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas most recently extended and redesignated Haiti for TPS until February 2026. 

The City of Springfield said in an official FAQ that the approximately 12,000-15,000 immigrants in the city from Haiti arrived via parole and are protected via TPS.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

Trump also said he would end the use of the “Kamala phone app” – the CBP One app. The app was introduced during the Trump administration, but was expanded by the Biden administration to allow migrants to make appointments to be paroled into the U.S. at ports of entry. Currently, about 1,450 migrants are being paroled into the U.S. each day under the app. Republicans have said its use has been an abuse of parole – which is limited to a case-by-case basis for significant public benefit or urgent humanitarian need.

Trump also promised to suspend refugee resettlement, which dropped to lows under the Trump administration. In the last year in office, the administration set a cap of just 15,000 a year. That has expanded to a cap of 125,000 under President Biden.

“I will save our cities and towns in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and all across America. #MAGA2024!” Trump said in his social media post.

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The plans would be a stark contrast from the Biden administration, which has significantly expanded its “lawful pathways” as part of its strategy to deal with the historic crisis at the southern border. It has also criticized Trump for not supporting a bipartisan bill that would have increased funding to border agencies and limited some arrivals into the U.S. if they reached a certain level.

A new poll conducted entirely after last week’s debate indicates Vice President Kamala Harris holding a three-point edge over former President Trump in Pennsylvania, which is arguably the most crucial of the seven key general election battleground states.

Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, is ahead of Trump, the GOP nominee, 49%-46% among likely voters in Pennsylvania, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll conducted Wednesday through Saturday (Sept. 11-14).

The vice president’s advantage over the former president among the 500 respondents is within the poll’s margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

HEAD HERE FOR FOX NEWS UPDATES ON THE SECOND ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON TRUMP

Vice President Kamala Harris, right, and former President Donald Trump shake hands during their presidential debate, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. Photographer: Doug Mills/The New York Time/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)

The survey was conducted before Sunday’s second assassination attempt against Trump. And the poll was released on Monday, which marks 50 days until Election Day on November 5.

Both Harris and Trump have repeatedly made stops this summer in Pennsylvania, which along with Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada, had razor-thin margins that decided the outcome of the 2020 election between Trump and President Biden. And the seven states will likely determine whether Harris or Trump wins the 2024 presidential election.

HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN ROCKED AGAIN, WITH 50 DAYS TO GO UNTIL ELECTION 

But with 19 electoral votes at stake, Pennsylvania’s the biggest of the key battlegrounds. And while the campaigns and their allied super PACs are pouring resources into all seven states, more money has been spent to run spots in Pennsylvania than any of the other battlegrounds. And both sides have dished out more dollars to reserve airtime going forward in the Keystone State than any of the other swing states, according to figures from AdImpact, a top national ad tracking firm.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Bojangles Coliseum, in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Pennsylvania, along with Michigan and Wisconsin, are the three Rust Belt states that make up the Democrats’ so-called “Blue Wall.”

The party reliably won all three states for a quarter-century before Trump narrowly captured them in the 2016 election to win the White House.

Four years later, in 2020, Biden carried all three states by razor-thin margins to put them back in the Democrats’ column and defeated Trump.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE SHOW

In addition to her statewide edge over Trump, two separate USA Today/Suffolk University surveys conducted post-debate in Erie and Northampton counties – two bellwethers that have historically predicted which presidential candidate carries Pennsylvania – indicate the vice president ahead by mid-single digits.

All three surveys indicated that a widening gender gap that benefits Harris is fueling her overall advantage over Trump.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump departs a campaign event at the Central Wisconsin Airport on September 7, 2024, in Mosinee, Wisconsin.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In the statewide survey, Harris tops Trump by 17 points among female voters while the former president leads the vice president by a slimmer 12 points among men. Harris had even wider leads among women in Erie and Northampton counties.

“This is female-gender advantage on steroids,” Suffolk University Political Research director Dave Paleologos told Fox News. “In all three data sets, the women margin is around almost twice Trump’s edge among men.”

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The USA Today/Suffolk survey is the first conducted in Pennsylvania following the debate, which was held in Philadelphia. A CBS News survey in the field in early September, in the week before the debate, indicated a tied race in the Keystone State.

“It’s the one state that it’s hard to see someone losing and then still winning the presidential race,” Mark Harris, Pittsburgh-based longtime Republican national strategist and ad maker, told Fox News Digital earlier this month. “It’s clearly ground zero.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. 

EXCLUSIVE: At a scheduled House hearing on Wednesday, Republicans plan to grill Small Business Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman over what they have characterized as the agency’s behavior in regard to claims of taxpayer-funded electioneering in swing-state Michigan.

GOP Texas Rep. Roger Williams, chair of the House Small Business Committee, said Monday that Guzman will be asked directly about alleged agency efforts to register voters in Democrat-heavy precincts of the Wolverine State.

“The Small Business Administration has lacked transparency and stonewalled committee oversight at every turn,” Williams said.

“The administrator must answer directly to our members about what we are hearing from our constituents back home, particularly about why small business concerns are being ignored within the Biden-Harris administration …”

WATCHDOG GROUP SUES FEDS FOR RECORDS AS LAWMAKER CALLS VOTER REGISTRATION EFFORTS A ‘SLAP IN THE FACE’

Williams and his Senate counterpart, Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, began demanding documents and other information in May over what the SBA had called its “first-ever” voter registration agreement with Michigan officials.

The SBA in March had forged a memorandum of understanding with the Michigan Department of State, pursuant to President Biden’s Executive Order 14019, which promotes access to voting.

Since then, Williams and committee Republicans have been demanding information, including documents and travel schedules of top agency officials. The letter from the two lawmakers also cited Guzman as the “most-traveled” Cabinet member.

To date, the committee has said SBA’s compliance has been markedly insufficient, with lawmakers claiming the agency has “slow-rolled … and wasted time producing documents that were either nonresponsive to the Committee’s requests or duplicative.”

The agency is “diverting its resources away from assisting Main Street so it can register Democratic voters,” Williams said.

In August, an SBA spokesperson argued that the agency has provided “extensive testimony, briefings, transcribed interviews, documents and other information in response to congressional inquires, including the Committee’s most recent subpoena.”

HOUSE COMMITTEE DEMANDS BIDEN AGENCY REVEAL STAFF TRAVEL HISTORIES AMID ELECTIONEERING ALLEGATIONS

“We are continuing the work to fulfill the subpoena beyond our initial document production. Any suggestion that the agency is conducting improper work or that its response has been anything other than cooperative is simply not true,” the spokesperson added.

Democrats on the panel, meanwhile, have dismissed the majority’s demands and said their behavior tarnishes the panel’s record.

The House Small Business Committee has otherwise “prided itself in bipartisan cooperation to help American entrepreneurs,” ranking member Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital in June. 

“Unfortunately, with [these] subpoenas, Republicans have rejected these principles to pursue a partisan inquiry,” Velazquez said.

However, others have countered that Democrats are politicizing the committee, as a source with knowledge of the committee’s work pointed to at least five derogatory mentions of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 in the committee’s last session.

Velazquez and Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., had invoked the conservative advocacy group’s work to rebut Republican amendments aimed at reducing regulatory burdens on small business. 

KEY BIDEN AGENCY SLAPPED WITH HISTORIC SUBPOENAS OVER ‘IMPROPER’ SWING-STATE VOTER REGISTRATION PUSH

Democrats have sought to link Republican officeholders and former President Trump to Project 2025 as a form of criticism. While several of Trump’s former Cabinet secretaries and top White House senior aides are authors of the project, Trump has denied having any connection to it.

Williams said that instead of voter registration in Michigan or other related concerns, the SBA should focus on its founding mission.

“The American taxpayers deserve to know the truth about who the SBA is truly working for, because the last few years have been a disaster for Main Street America,” he said Monday.

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Small Business Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman (Bill O’Leary/Pool/Getty Images/File)

Fox News Digital has also learned the committee will question Guzman on the agency’s reported decision to end active collection of COVID-era small business loans under $100,000 while the agency saw billions of loan dollars accidentally go to fraudulent concerns.

The committee also plans to address Vice President Harris’ small business tax deduction proposals and how witnesses may believe it meshes with potential plans to allow a current 20% small business tax deduction to expire.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest political news from Washington, D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

Here’s what’s happening…

– Democratic congressman demands expansion of Trump’s security perimeter 

– Security experts weigh in on risk to Trump after second assassination attempt

– Democrats pour $25 million into Senate races

Heated Rhetoric

EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump said President Biden and Vice President Harris’ “rhetoric” is what is causing him to be “shot at,” following the second assassination attempt against him since July, while telling Fox News Digital that the suspected gunman “acted” on “highly inflammatory language” of Democrats.  

Trump spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital Monday morning, just a day after he was rushed off of the golf course at Trump International in West Palm Beach, Fla., after the Secret Service discovered a gunman in the bushes. 

The suspected gunman, Ryan Wesley Routh, had an AK-47 style rifle pointing through the chain-link fence out toward the green; a go-pro camera; and two backpacks. He ran from the scene but was pulled over and arrested on I-95. 

Authorities are treating the episode as an apparent assassination attempt against Trump.

Trump was safe following the second assassination attempt against him since July….Read more

(Ryan Wesley Routh, right, is alleged to have attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024.)

White House

SACRED LAND: Apache tribe takes fight with federal government, copper producers to Supreme Court …Read more

Trump Assassination Attempts

‘UNACCEPTABLE’: Dem rep demands Secret Service expand Trump protective perimeter …Read more

CLOSE CALL: Security, military experts weigh in on danger to Trump in latest attempt on his life …Read more

An exterior view of a gap in vegetation along the perimeter of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, September 16, 2024. Ryan Routh was arrested on Sunday after allegedly attempting to assassination former President Donald Trump from a similar opening along the golf course. Mega for Fox News Digital (Mega for Fox News Digital)

‘HIGHLY DAMAGING’: Whistleblower allegations on first Trump assassination attempt ‘highly damaging’ to Secret Service: Hawley …Read more

PAPER TRAIL: Suspect in second Trump attempted assassination has lengthy pro-Ukraine paper trail …Read more

‘BURNT OUT’: Secret Service ‘redlined,’ Pennsylvania task force says after assassination plot …Read more

WEIRD RESPONSE: Trump assassination attempt suspect laughs, smiles during first court appearance in Florida …Read more

Court sketch depicting Routh in Federal court in West Palm Beach, FL, on Monday, September 16, 2024. Routh is facing charges of charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Routh is suspected of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump. (Lothar Speer )

Capitol Hill

‘WE MUST STOP THEM: House Dem leader slammed ‘extreme MAGA’ GOP amid news of Trump assassination attempt …Read more

‘NO JOKE’: Vulnerable Dem blasted for blaming ‘fearmongering’ as top issue related to border crime …Read more

‘CONFLICT OF INTEREST’: Tammy Baldwin faces scrutiny over partner’s Wall Street gig …Read more

Republican challenger Eric Hovde has called Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s relationship with Maria Brisbane a conflict of interest and urged her to disclose her partner’ss assets and clients.  (Reuters)

Tales from the Trail 

‘END THE MIGRANT INVASION’: Trump reveals new pledge amid Haitian refugee controversy …Read more

BIG SPENDER: Dems pour $25M into ground game as GOP inches closer to Senate majority …Read more

HIGH STAKES MEETING: Harris eyes endorsement in high-stakes meeting with only major union that hasn’t endorsed her campaign …Read more

FINAL COUNTDOWN: Harris-Trump race rocked by second assassination attempt with 50 days until election …Read more

‘LIVELIHOODS’ AT STAKE: ‘Auto Workers for Trump’ says union support ballooning …Read more

Brian Pannebecker, founder of Auto Workers for Trump 2024, left, speaks beside former US President Donald Trump during a “Get Out The Vote” rally in Waterford Township, Michigan, US, on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. Twenty-two Republican-led states urged the US Supreme Court to delay Donald Trump’s criminal trial for election interference, casting the federal prosecution as an effort to undermine his campaign to recapture the White House. (Nic Antaya/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Across America

‘POLITICAL PERSECUTION’: America First Legal sues Manhattan DA’s office for records related to Trump prosecution …Read more

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: Trial on using race-based admissions in the Naval Academy kicks off …Read more

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Following revelations of private memoranda and conversations between Supreme Court justices published in the New York Times, legal experts are warning that such sensitive leaks are “destructive” to the high court. 

The New York Times reported that internal memos and deliberations that they claimed showed Chief Justice Thomas as having “molded” the outcomes of three major cases the court considered dealing with Jan. 6 rioters, and granting former President Donald Trump certain immunity for presidential acts. 

Roberts wrote the majority in the decisions, and the report claims that he “provided crucial support for hearing the historic [immunity],’ and made last minute and unexplained changes to authorship of the politically charged opinions. 

The leak follows the unprecedented leaked draft of the Dobbs opinion which overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, and a concerted effort by Democratic lawmakers and the Biden administration to make sweeping changes to the court and ethics enforcement. 

TRIAL ON USING RACE-BASED ADMISSIONS IN THE NAVAL ACADEMY KICKS OFF IN CRUSADE AGAINST AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

John Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court arrives on the House floor before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address to the joint session of Congress in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, March 7, 2024.  ((Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images))

Republican lawmakers, such as Senators Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and John Kennedy, R-La., claim those efforts are politically motivated to delegitimize one the court now sits with a majority of Republican-appointed justices.

Some legal experts say this latest leak is part of that effort to undermine the Supreme Court. 

“I think it’s enormously destructive to the court when people inside the court disclose to the press confidential memoranda, confidential emails and what appears to even be remarks made at the justices’ conference,” James Burnham, president of Vallecito Capital and former Justice Department official told Fox News Digital. 

NAVY LAUNCHES FIRST SUBMARINE BUILT FOR BOTH GENDERS 

Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts arrives for the Senate impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, January 21, 2020.  ((Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images))

“It’s destructive because the justices can’t be candid with each other if they think that anything they say could end up in the New York Times. And that means they’re going to speak less to each other. It means they’re not going to be able to deliberate with the same openness that they historically have, and it ultimately undermines the court’s decision making,” he added. 

“It reads to me like somebody is trying to cast a negative light on the Chief Justice and the other justices in the majority for what I think was a plainly correct and brave decision,” he said.

Carrie Seveino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, said that “if there is someone on the Court who deserves censure for being overly political in this case, it’s the individual who leaked” the “highly confidential internal” documents.

She added that the incident “is of a piece with the continued left-wing PR campaign against the Court.”

WINERY, BREWERY, BAGEL SHOP TEAM UP TO CALL OUT BERKELEY’S PERMISSIVENESS OF HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS

The nine U.S. Supreme Court justices pose for their official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building on October 7, 2022, in Washington, DC.  ((Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images))

“It’s an attempt to smear the Court as an institution, and as part of that, some justices have been targeted more than others,” she said. 

John Shu, a constitutional attorney who served in both Bush administrations, Shu says he believes the leaks are politically motivated, and are most likely designed to keep Roberts anchored in the center or perhaps push him towards center-left in the upcoming term, especially if Trump is elected this November.

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“Because he is the Chief Justice, he gets to assign opinions when he’s in the majority, which is much of the time, and he has administrative power that the other justices do not have,” said Shu. “And much like the President is the embodiment of Article 2, the Chief Justice is the embodiment of Article 3.”

“It’s really scary that yet another norm has been shattered, violating the sacred confidentiality of deliberations and the opinion drafting process,”Shu said.

The man suspected of an assassination attempt on former President Trump’s life on Sunday went on the record with the New York Times last year to promote his efforts to recruit Afghan soldiers to fight the war in Ukraine. 

More than a year ago, Ryan Routh spoke to the New York Times after spending “months” in Ukraine during its war against Russia. Routh, whom the New York Times described as a former North Carolina construction worker, told the outlet that as the number of foreign volunteers fighting on behalf of Ukraine in a military unit called the International Legion dwindled, he was working to recruit Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban to join the front lines of the war in Ukraine. 

“Mr. Routh, who spent several months in Ukraine last year, said he planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine. He said dozens had expressed interest,” the New York Times reported in an article published on March 25, 2023. 

“We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan, since it’s such a corrupt country,” Routh told the outlet in an interview from Washington, D.C. 

RYAN ROUTH, ARMED MAN ARRESTED AT TRUMP GOLF COURSE, POSTED PROLIFICALLY ABOUT TRUMP, POLITICS

Ryan W. Routh, suspected of attempting to assassinate former President Trump, stands handcuffed after his arrest during a traffic stop near Palm City, Florida, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office/Handout via Reuters)

Routh was arrested Sunday afternoon after allegedly taking an AK-47-style rifle to the Trump International Golf Club, and pointing it through a chain-link fence toward where Trump was playing golf. 

Routh fled the area in his car and was soon apprehended by authorities on I-95. Trump was not injured during the incident, and the campaign quickly issued a statement that he was safe on Sunday afternoon. 

Fox News Digital pored over Routh’s apparent social media accounts on Sunday and found he prolifically posted about world events, Trump, the 2020 election, and the previous attempt on Trump’s life in July. 

ALLEGED TRUMP GUNMAN RYAN ROUTH HAS A PAPER TRAIL OF PRO-UKRAINE ADVOCACY: REPORTS

Former President Trump speaks during a campaign event at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on Thursday, in Tucson, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

“I am flying to Ukraine to fight.  We need to launch a media campaign to encourage every human around the globe to meet in Ukraine and join in the fight.  We need hundreds of thousands of civilians to make the cost of war high for putin and a flood of fighters,” he posted on Feb. 17, 2022. 

Following repeated messages declaring his intention to fight on behalf of Ukraine, he posted in April that he was in Kyiv. 

“I am here in kyiv and want to use Independence Park to create a tent city of all the foreigners here in support to get thousands more foreign civilians to come and support Ukraine,” the account posted. 

LAW ENFORCEMENT SOURCES IDENTIFY RYAN WESLEY ROUTH AS SUSPECT IN TRUMP SHOOTING

In another post, he declared in all caps that he was willing to “FIGHT AND DIE” in Ukraine. 

Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Routh is taken into custody Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in bodycam footage released Monday. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office )

“I AM WILLING TO FLY TO KRAKOW AND GO TO THE BORDER OF UKRAINE TO VOLUNTEER AND FIGHT AND DIE,” he posted in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. 

His X account was suspended following police confirming his name on Sunday. 

The New York Times reporter who interviewed Routh last year about his efforts in Ukraine published an essay Sunday regarding the interview and article. The reporter, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, explained that he was put in touch with Routh by a former colleague from Kabul, and noted that Routh was one of the first interviews he conducted for the March 2023 piece. 

DONALD TRUMP SAFE AFTER SHOTS FIRED OUTSIDE PALM BEACH GOLF CLUB

“Mr. Routh, who had spent some time in Ukraine trying to raise support for the war, was seeking recruits from among Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban. And so the former Afghan soldier reckoned Mr. Routh could get him to the Ukrainian front. (Anything, even war, was better than the conditions in Iran for Afghans after the Taliban retook Kabul in August of 2021.),” the essay explained. 

Routh told the reporter that while he was eager to rally support and volunteers to fight on behalf of Ukraine, he did not fight in Ukraine citing his age and his lack of military experience. Routh is 58 years old as of 2024. 

Court sketch depicting Routh in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Lothar Speer)

“In my opinion everyone should be there supporting the Ukrainians,” he told the reporter. 

Routh told the New York Times last March that he had built a list hundreds of names long of Afghans living in the Middle East whom he planned to recruit and help transport to Ukraine. 

The interview was “brief” and conducted ahead of Routh saying he had lined up a two-hour meeting with members of Congress regarding Ukraine. 

TRUMP SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

The reporter noted in his essay it’s unclear if Routh ever had the meeting, and that the discussion left him thinking Routh “was in way over his head.”

“He talked of buying off corrupt officials, forging passports and doing whatever it took to get his Afghan cadre to Ukraine, but he had no real way to accomplish his goals. At one point he mentioned arranging a U.S. military transport flight from Iraq to Poland with Afghan refugees willing to fight,” Gibbons-Neff wrote. 

The Trump International Golf Club on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

“I shook my head. It sounded ridiculous, but the tone in Mr. Routh’s voice said otherwise. He was going to back Ukraine’s war effort, no matter what.”

The reporter said that Routh “fell off the map” following the publication last year, “until Sunday.” 

Routh headed to federal court Monday morning, where he was seen smiling and laughing before his first court appearance. 

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He faces charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Authorities said he could be hit with additional charges. 

Trump has since blamed Democratic rhetoric promoted by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the attempt on his life. Trump survived another assassination attempt in July, when a gunman opened fire on a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and hit Trump in the ear. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is planning another vote on a Democrat-backed bill on in vitro fertilization (IVF) that has already failed in the upper chamber. 

He revealed in a letter to senators on Sunday that another vote on the measure would take place on Tuesday. 

“As our national debate on reproductive rights has continued to unfold, we have seen the Republican Party’s nominee for president claim to be ‘a leader in fertilization’ and come out in support of expanding access to IVF by requiring insurance companies to cover IVF treatment — a key provision included in the Right to IVF Act,” Schumer penned in his letter. 

“So, we are going to give our Republican colleagues another chance to show the American people where they stand.”

DEMS POUR $25M INTO GROUND GAME AS GOP INCHES CLOSER TO SENATE MAJORITY

Leader Schumer revealed a vote on a previously blocked IVF bill will be slated for Tuesday. (Reuters)

Schumer’s decision to bring the bill back to the Senate floor comes after former President Donald Trump vowed to mandate insurers to cover IVF, as he emphasized his support of the procedure. 

“I’m announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for — or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for — all costs associated with IVF treatment,” Trump said at a Michigan event last month. “Because we want more babies, to put it nicely.”

TAMMY BALDWIN FACES CONFLICT OF INTEREST CONCERNS OVER PARTNER’S WALL STREET GIG

Trump declared himself a leader on IVF. (AP/Jae C. Hong)

Under the IVF bill, which was introduced by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., “A group health plan or a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage shall provide coverage for fertility treatment, if such plan or coverage provides coverage for obstetrical services.”

This would extend to nearly all insurers, as obstetrical coverage is considered a routine inclusion. 

In June, nearly all Senate Republicans voted the measure down during a key procedural vote, preventing it from getting the 60 necessary votes to advance. 

JON TESTER CASTS DOUBT ON UNFAVORABLE POLL IN MONTANA SENATE RACE: ‘GIVE ME A BREAK’

Duckworth led the Democrat-backed IVF bill. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Katie Britt of Alabama proposed their own IVF bill later in the summer, which they said would prevent bans on the procedure but allow for commonsense regulation. That measure was blocked from being voted on when Cruz made a unanimous consent request to proceed with it. It has not been slated for a traditional vote by Schumer, either. 

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he wouldn’t speak about private conversations with Trump when asked by Fox News Digital if they had discussed the former president’s IVF proposal, but he reiterated, “I’m very supportive of IVF, and we’ll see what Schumer brings up.”

Pressed on the component to mandate insurers to cover the procedure, he said he would see what’s written in the bill. 

TOP SENATORS BRIEFED ON ‘MAJOR ERRORS’ LEADING UP TO TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

A microscopic view of a cryo solution during embryo prep in the IVF lab at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., who is running for Republican Senate leader in November, said he hadn’t discussed the IVF proposal with Trump but perhaps some of his colleagues had. 

“Obviously, it’s an idea that’s out there that we’re having discussions about. But, we’ll react to it if and when it happens, if that’s the direction Schumer decides to go,” he told Fox News Digital. 

Asked about mandating private insurance coverage for a procedure, which isn’t a traditionally conservative position, Thune said, “I guess that’s the conversation we’re going to have to have.”

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“Obviously, it’s something that our nominee has come out in support of, but there are lots of mandates that are imposed on insurance companies, which raise rates,” he explained. 

“Every Republican is for IVF. I don’t know of any Republican that isn’t,” he said. “The question of whether or not insurance ought to cover it is another issue that we need to talk about.”

The race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District is generating national attention as Republicans attempt to tie their Democratic opponent to a controversial deal with a Chinese Communist Party-backed company.

Michigan Republicans are calling on former Democratic State Sen. Curtis Hertel, who is currently running to represent Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, to break his silence on a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) he signed in order to obtain details on controversial plans to use taxpayer funds to help build an electric vehicle battery plant in west Michigan owned by a company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

The plant, which was announced by Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in October 2022, was set to get millions in incentives as part of a deal with Michigan lawmakers and Green Charter Township, with promises of bringing over 2,000 jobs to the area.

But the project quickly drew the ire of local voters, in large part due to the company behind the plant, Gotion Inc., being a subsidiary of Gotion High-Tech, which has strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party. 

CCP-BACKED TECH COMPANIES ARE POISED TO CASH IN ON BIDEN’S CLIMATE BILL, NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERTS WARN

Two former Michigan state Senators: Republican Tom Barrett, left, and Democrat Curtis Hertel Jr., right, are running to represent Michigans 7th Congressional District. (AP Photo/File)

Last fall, local voters ousted five of the seven township board members over their support of the project, while the other two members resigned.

That controversy has now bled over into the race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, one of the few true toss-up House races in the state, thanks to Hertel being one of several lawmakers from both parties to sign the NDA with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation that allowed them to learn about and negotiate details on the proposed plans for the plant.

Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is vacating her seat in Michigan’s 7th District to pursue a run for U.S. Senate, recently spoke out against the Gotion deal, further intensifying calls on Hertel to do the same.

“To me, until there’s a national security vetting, I don’t love the idea of moving forward on any project or any sale of farmland” to a Chinese entity, Slotkin told reporters at a campaign event earlier this month. “I believe that we need to not just think about economic [aspects], but also about the national security implications of Chinese-affiliated companies.”

Rep. Elissa Slotkin. (Getty Images)

BIDEN ADMIN GREEN-LIGHTS CHINESE EV BATTERY FACTORY IN MICHIGAN, DESPITE LOCAL OPPOSITION

“Hertel must answer whether or not he agrees with his comrade pal Elissa Slotkin, and if he regrets signing the NDA to sell out Michigan taxpayers to the CCP,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Mike Marinella.

The controversy over the plant has also garnered attention in the presidential race, with former President Donald Trump saying on Truth social last month that he is “100% OPPOSED” to the plant, adding that Gotion “would put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.”

Meanwhile, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, highlighted the controversy during a campaign stop in Michigan last week.

“I think the most important thing is we have to stop paying Chinese manufacturers to manufacture, whether it’s here or overseas,” Vance told reporters in Michigan after his speech. “We want to build an American manufacturing industry and an American middle class. If we want to pursue these policies, let’s do them for Americans and American businesses.”

FEWER AMERICANS WANT TO BUY AN EV — EVEN AS BIDEN PUSHES FOR STRONGEST-EVER CLIMATE CHANGE RULES

Republican vice presidential candidate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) speaks at NMC-Wollard Inc. / Wollard International on August 07, 2024 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. (Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)

But questions over Hertel’s involvement in the project continue to be the focus of Michigan Republicans, most notably after it was reported last year that Hertel was on of several Democratic lawmakers in the state to receive funds from a Political Action Committee (PAC) linked to the law office of Warner Norcross + Judd, a firm acting as a foreign agent to represent Gotion.

According to a Fox News report last September, the firm’s PAC donated $2,400 to the state campaign for Hertel, who represented Michigan’s 23rd State Senate district from 2015 until January.

One lawmaker who did not sign an NDA related to the project is former Republican State Sen. Tom Barrett, Hertel’s opponent in the race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. Barrett has also seized on the controversy, arguing Hertel owes people an explanation for his involvement with the project.

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“Curtis Hertel, a 22-year career politician, owes the people of Mid-Michigan an explanation as to why he signed a secret NDA to give $175 million of their tax dollars to a CCP-backed company,” Barrett told Fox News Digital. “The fact that he took money from foreign agents on behalf of Gotion should disqualify him from Congress.”

Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, Hertel campaign communications director Sam Kwait-Spitzer dismissed the claims by Republicans as a “false attack.”

“Curtis signed no NDA with Gotion, and Tom Barrett is trying to cover for his own record of voting against 5,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs here in Mid-Michigan and trying to cede the future of the auto industry to China,” he said.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

The Democrats’ Senate campaign arm announced massive new spending across the country on Monday focused on contacting voters directly with less than 50 days until the election. 

The $25 million venture is split across 10 states, including Senate battlegrounds Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Montana, as well as places where Democrats are hoping to unseat incumbent Republicans, such as Florida and Texas, despite expectations for Republicans to hold on to them. 

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) also spent part of the money in Maryland, where popular former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is threatening the party’s grasp on the state. 

TAMMY BALDWIN FACES CONFLICT OF INTEREST CONCERNS OVER PARTNER’S WALL STREET GIG

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is pouring millions into voter contact programs with 50 days until the elections. (Reuters)

“A formidable ground game makes all the difference in close races – which is why the DSCC has been working all cycle long to build the organizing infrastructure that will lead to Senate Democrats’ victory,” DSCC Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., said in a statement. 

“This increased investment will help our campaigns expand their organizing capacity, communicate with more voters about the importance of participating in this election and ensure we are reaching every voter we need to win.” 

JON TESTER CASTS DOUBT ON UNFAVORABLE POLL IN MONTANA SENATE RACE: ‘GIVE ME A BREAK’

Sen. Gary Peters said he is still confident in Democrats holding their seats. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

In the 10 states, the DSCC’s cash injection will be spent on extra political organizers on the ground, in addition to programs for phone banking, targeted voter constituencies and digital organizing.

The committee also said it could increase this funding ahead of the election. 

TOP SENATORS BRIEFED ON ‘MAJOR ERRORS’ LEADING UP TO TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Tim Sheehy, left, is now favored to win the Montana Senate race against incumbent Sen. Jon Tester. (Reuters)

The newly announced spending comes as polls tighten in key races where Republicans are looking to unseat vulnerable incumbent Democrats, giving the GOP a clear shot at taking the Senate majority. 

Former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, the Republican Senate candidate in Montana, was recently given the advantage over his opponent, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., as two top political handicappers shifted the race from a “toss up” to “leans Republican.”

DEMS RUN ON BORDER BILL REPUBLICANS SAY ‘WAS NEVER DESIGNED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM’

In another top race, incumbent Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., was tied by Republican candidate Dave McCormick, with each posting 46% in a recent CNN survey. 

Dave McCormick, right, who is running against Sen. Bob Casey believes Pennsylvania voters are realizing the importance of the 2024 election. (Reuters/ Associated Press)

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In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont., for the first time claimed the Republicans would take back the Senate majority in the upcoming election.

He explained, “Fifty-one is the number that we want to get to. Clearly, there’s an opportunity to get beyond that, but 51 is the number we’ve got to get to.” 

The alleged gunman arrested at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, has a lengthy paper trail of pro-Ukraine advocacy, according to several news reports Monday.

The suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested Sunday after allegedly pushing the muzzle of an assault rifle through a chain-link fence near former President Donald Trump’s golf course, where the former president was playing the fifth hole. However, this is not the first time Routh has been identified.

Routh is a pro-Ukraine activist who has spent time in the Eastern European country volunteering to raise more support for the nation’s military efforts and even sought Afghan veterans who fled from the Taliban to fight in the war, a New York Times report noted.

LAW ENFORCEMENT SOURCES IDENTIFY RYAN WESLEY ROUTH AS SUSPECT IN TRUMP SHOOTING

Ryan Routh is accused of aiming a rifle at former President Donald Trump while he was golfing at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday. It is being investigated as a second assassination attempt on Trump. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

He was also interviewed by Semafor in March 2023 and expressed frustration at the Ukranian government for having too much red tape around admitting foreign soldiers to fight in the war. 

“Ukraine is very often hard to work with. Many foreign soldiers leave after a week in Ukraine or must move from unit to unit to find a place they are respected and appreciated,” Routh told Semafor, adding that he’d been “yelled at” for suggesting Afghan veterans. 

“They’re afraid that anybody and everybody is a Russian spy,” he said.

Routh also talked to Newsweek’s Romania edition in 2022, again about his recruitment efforts for the International Legion Defense of Ukraine, which is an on-the-ground unit for the nation’s army.

DONALD TRUMP SAFE AFTER SHOTS FIRED OUTSIDE PALM BEACH GOLF CLUB

Former President Donald Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Routh was seen being taken into custody on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024 in bodycam footage released Monday. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office )

“The question as far as why I’m here … to me, a lot of the other conflicts are grey, but this conflict is definitely black and white,” Routh told Newseek. “This is about good versus evil. This is a storybook, you know, any movie we’ve ever watched, this is definitely evil against good.“

Routh also claimed to have fought in the war and reportedly bragged about his involvement on his social media accounts. His pro-Ukraine advocacy also appears to have led him to write a 291-page book, “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” which is still available on Amazon. 

“I presume that I must be clear, that while on the current path Ukraine will not win, it is imperative for the world that they do win, and that is why this book is so important, for us all to recognize that losing is not an option and what we must do to win,” Routh wrote in the description. “I obviously did not write this to make any money, as that is totally unimportant; the extremely important issue is that we openly discuss daily the major issues that face Ukraine and what we each must try to do to fix them.”

The X account appearing to belong to Routh also repeatedly issued Ukraine-related posts to X that he was ready to fly to Ukraine to fight Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

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“I am flying to Ukraine to fight.  We need to launch a media campaign to encourage every human around the globe to meet in Ukraine and join in the fight.  We need hundreds of thousands of civilians to make the cost of war high for putin and a flood of fighters,” the apparent Routh account posted on Feb. 17, 2022. 

Following repeated messages declaring his intention to fight on behalf of Ukraine, the X account posted in April that Routh was in Kyiv. 

“I am here in kyiv and want to use Independence Park to create a tent city of all the foreigners here in support to get thousands more foreign civilians to come and support Ukraine,” according to the X post. 

Trump has said on several occasions that if elected, he would end the Ukraine-Russia conflict within 24 hours. During the ABC debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump did not explicitly say he wanted Ukraine to triumph in the war.  “Just get it done. All right. Negotiate a deal,” Trump said.

TRUMP SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

An FBI officer works outside of Trump International Golf Club after the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

A background check also previously reviewed by Fox News Digital found that Routh has had repeated run-ins with law enforcement spanning decades in North Carolina. 

A majority of the arrests included ones for simple possession, driving without a license, driving with an expired registration, driving without insurance. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and Brooke Curto contributed to this report.