Donald Trump’s Golf Partner Describes Moment Secret Service Pounced on Him During Assassination Attempt

Donald Trump’s golfing partner Steve Witkoff is opening up about witnessing the apparent assassination attempt against the former president over the weekend.

On Sept. 17, Witkoff appeared on Good Morning America and said that U.S. Secret Service agents did “exactly what they're supposed to do” during the incident, which occurred on Sunday, Sept. 15, at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Trump, 78, was golfing when an agent, walking a perimeter around the course, allegedly spotted a rifle sticking out of a treeline. The agent then fired shots toward the rifle. The suspect fled the scene, but was later apprehended.

"I saw the Secret Service do exactly what they're supposed to do, which was get right on top of the president," Witkoff told the outlet, noting that there were “a whole bunch” of agents covering Trump. "They did that job in an exemplary way.”

"In quick succession, there were four shots and then the Secret Service was whisking him out of there, getting him back to the club house, as he's the first priority — he's the protectee,” he continued. “They were engaging in that corner on the sixth hole where evidently this would-be assassin had put himself, had created a sort of lair there.”

Witkoff added that he saw Trump “gesturing” and “looking over” while he was being rushed away, seemingly toward his friends and staffers who were on the golf course with him. “It was clear to me that he was just very concerned about everybody as he was being taken away,” Witkoff said.

On Sept. 16, during a press briefing at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Secret Service acting director Ronald L. Rowe Jr. revealed that visiting the golf course was not on Trump’s schedule — calling it an “off-the-record movement” — and the agency did not search the perimeter before the former president began golfing. The suspect allegedly hid for nearly 12 hours before being fired at by a Secret Service agent.

“The president wasn’t even really supposed to go there. It was not on his official schedule,” he said. “It wasn't part of his schedule. So there was no posting up of it because he wasn't supposed to have gone there in the first place.”

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Rowe explained that following the first assassination attempt against Trump in July, he “ordered a paradigm shift” with how the agency protects presidents. 

“We need to get out of a reactive model, and get to a readiness model. We cannot have failures. And in order to do that, we’re going to have some hard conversations with Congress,” Rowe said, arguing that the agency also needs more resources. “We have done more with less for decades — and this goes back many, many, many decades.”

President Joe Biden also said the Secret Service “needs more help” after the second assassination attempt against Trump.

“One thing I want to make clear, the Secret Service needs more help,” he told reporters outside the White House on Sept. 16. "And I think that Congress should respond to their needs if they in fact need more service people.”

When asked what specifically they need, Biden replied, “I think they need more personnel.”

Following the incident, Trump claimed without evidence that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ comments that he is a threat to democracy was a driving factor in the assassination attempt. 

“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 said in a Fox News interview. 

Trump’s comments were later echoed by other Republicans, including his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance.

Both Biden and Harris have steered clear of politics when addressing the assassination attempt, calling for an end to political violence.

“America has suffered too many times the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet. It solves nothing and just tears the country apart,” Biden said at the 2024 National HBCU Week Conference on Sept. 16. “We must do everything we can to prevent it and never give it any oxygen.” 

Many Democrats have pushed back on Trump’s claims, noting that the former president has been known to use harmful rhetoric himself. Most notably — after refusing to concede that he lost the 2020 election — Trump called his supporters to Washington, telling them to “fight like hell” or they wouldn’t have a country anymore, leading to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. 

“He plays to people’s fear, he plays to people’s anxiety. He defines us with hate and fear,” Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell said on Sept. 16 at an event for Harris, CNN reports. “This violence has to stop, but we also need to understand who and what he is and how much he is contributing to it.”  

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is continuing to investigate the attempted assassination.

The suspect, Ryan Routh, 58, was later charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession and receipt of a firearm with an obliterated serial number in connection with the incident, the Department of Justice announced. He made an initial court appearance on Sept. 16 and is scheduled for a detention hearing on Sept. 23, prosecutors said. Authorities have not yet revealed a possible motive.

The incident at Trump’s golf club marks the second time the former president has been the target of an attempted assassination in the last few months. On July 13, Trump was rushed offstage mid-speech by Secret Service agents after a man fired several shots during a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania. One person was killed. Trump's ear was bloodied during the incident but he was otherwise unharmed.