DeSantis says Florida will independently investigate latest Trump assassination attempt

Florida will investigate the apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump this weekend at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday. It was the second attempt on Trump's life in two months.

“The State of Florida will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at Trump International Golf Club,” DeSantis posted on X. “The people deserve the truth about the would-be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee.”

Details about that investigation were scant on Monday.

"At the direction of Governor Ron DeSantis, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), along with the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), will investigate this matter to the fullest extent possible," an FDLE spokeswoman said in an email to the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida. She offered no other details.

Trump was at his golf club Sunday afternoon when Secret Service agents walking the course ahead of him spotted a gun barrel poking out of some bushes. They opened fire on the suspect, who dropped an AK-47-style assault rifle, two backpacks and a GoPro camera and fled, authorities said.

Ryan Routh, 58, was later arrested and is awaiting a federal court appearance, David Aronberg, state attorney for Palm Beach County, told USA TODAY. Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Routh was about 300-500 yards from Trump and that his rifle and scope put him within range.

On a Monday morning radio program, DeSantis said he had accompanied Trump on that golf course “many times” and had noticed the bushes the gunman hid in and the fences’ proximity to some of the holes.

“I remember playing with him when he was president and thinking, ‘You know what, that is definitely a vulnerability,’ ” he said on a Southwest Florida Fox News station, talking to guest host state Rep. Spencer Roach, R-North Fort Myers.

DeSantis also said the state-led probe is necessary because the federal government was “clamming up” about the last one in July.

A man shot at Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The former president was unharmed, but the incident highlighted deficiencies in the U.S. Secret Service that allowed a shooter to get that close to the Republican nominee for president.

“Beyond just prosecuting the guy, (who) needs to be prosecuted, we need answers about this,” DeSantis told Roach. “So we’re going to devote resources to getting those.”

During an appearance in Orlando on Monday, DeSantis expanded on his comments, saying he hasn't spoken with Trump yet since the incident, but was distrustful of federal authorities.

"I understand that the feds are involved but we do believe that there are multiple violations of state law. We also believe that there's a need to make sure that the truth about all this comes out in a way that is credible," DeSantis told reporters.

"I look at the federal government, with all due respect to them, those same agencies that are prosecuting Trump in that jurisdiction are now going to be investigating this? I just think that may not be the best thing for this country."

Douglas Soule and USA TODAY contributed. Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Gov. DeSantis says Florida will probe Trump assassination attempt