A golfing partner of Donald Trump has described the dramatic moment he heard gunshots and saw Secret Service agents dive on top of the former president during the apparent assassination attempt at his Florida golf course Sunday.
Businessman Steve Witkoff, a longtime Trump friend and political donor, told NBC News on Tuesday that he knew immediately that a series of loud "pops" was gunfire, and he praised the Secret Service for its quick response in getting Trump off the golf course in under 20 seconds.
A suspect, Ryan Routh, was charged Monday night with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Routh hid in bushes for up to 12 hours and pointed a semi-automatic weapon at Trump from about 400 yards away, authorities said.
Trump had "a guy who follows him right behind him, but there's also people perched next to him. The entire team converged on top of him, except for the snipers," Witkoff told NBC’s “TODAY” show.
"The snipers separated, and they came within 3 yards of me, put the tripods down, and they were aiming right at the spot where the shots had come from," he said.
Trump then made sure everyone present was OK, Witkoff said, including other friends who were on the course and the Secret Service agents.
Pressure on the Secret Service has again mounted in the wake of Sunday's incident, coming just over two months after a gunman opened fire on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. Witkoff said Trump has faith in the Secret Service and "respects them tremendously."
But he added: "Does he think that it’s possible that along the way, mistakes could have been made? Well, I mean, yes, mistakes could have been made, and in this case lives could be lost because of such, because of a mistake."
Witkoff said he was unsure whether Trump would stop his golf habit after Sunday's arrest. "He’s a hard guy to suppress. You know, golf is a great game for him. He slows down on the golf course. It's a happy place for him," he said.
And he said Trump had no obligation to tone down his fiery language in light of the apparent second attempt on his life in the last 10 weeks. Trump on Monday accused President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris of using language that led to two assassination attempts against him. The pair had taken "politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred," Trump said on social media.
Referring to Harris, Trump's opponent in the presidential election, Witkoff said: "I mean, he feels that her political beliefs are far to the left. He feels that that reminds him of Marxist ideology.
"That's just him telling the American public how he views people who believe in much, much larger government, heavy, heavy taxes, Green New Deal, DEI, all the rest of it."
