GOP nominee Donald Trump is not at all confident in the FBI and Department of Justice’s ability to handle the probe into his second assassination attempt, saying that the matter should be left to local authorities in Florida.
On Monday, Trump issued a statement that accused the two federal agencies of “downplaying” the second attempt on his life that occurred last week outside his golf club in Florida.
The lengthy statement accused the DOJ and FBI of both holding a conflict of interest and of being politically motivated.
As his statement read, in part:
“The Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Department of Justice and FBI are mishandling and downplaying the second assassination attempt on my life since July. The charges brought against the maniac assassin are a slap on the wrist. It’s no wonder, since the DOJ and FBI have been coming after me nonstop with Weaponized Lawfare since I announced my first Historic Campaign for the Presidency.”
Trump cited all of the legal cases that he’s facing as evidence to back up his claims. This includes his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, the probe into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, and how he handled classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021.
The former president also referred to comments that Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, made not long after the first attempt on Trump’s life in July, when he said there was a possibility Trump was hit by something other than a bullet.
After Wray made those comments, the FBI released a statement trying to clarify it, saying Trump was definitely hit by a bullet, but it could’ve been whole or fragmented.
In his statement on Monday, Trump said:
“It’s very difficult to trust the Biden/Harris DOJ/FBI to investigate the assassination attempts, due to Election Interference and the FAKE CASES brought against me, including their control over local D.A.s and A.G.s.
“If the DOJ and FBI cannot do their job honestly and without bias, and hold the aspiring assassin responsible to the full extent of the Law, Governor Ron DeSantis and the State of Florida have already agreed to take the lead on the investigation and prosecution. Florida charges would be much more serious than the ones the FBI has announced … LET FLORIDA HANDLE THE CASE!”
DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, was at one time a strong ally of Trump’s, then his main competition in the Republican primary. Now, it seems that he’s back in the former president’s good graces as he seeks the White House in the next two months.
The 58-year-old Ryan Routh was charged with two gun crimes earlier in September after he pushed the muzzle of his rifle through the fence near the perimeter of a West Palm Beach golf course that Trump owns while he was there.
When agents with U.S. Secret Service noticed the gun, they fired at the man.
