Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called former President Donald Trump "a danger to our country and the world" one day after the Republican presidential nominee narrowly avoided being assassinated for the second time in less than three months.
Clinton, a Democrat who ran against Trump for president in 2016, made the comments during an interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Monday.
"The late great journalist Harry Evans one time said that journalists should try to achieve objectivity," Clinton said. "The object in this case is Donald Trump. His demagoguery. His danger to our country and the world."
Clinton also claimed that the press was "merciless" in attacking President Joe Biden but was much more hands-off when it came to Trump.
Trump was playing golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday when a Secret Service agent spotted a gun barrel sticking out of a tree line.
The agent opened fire on the gunman, who was identified by law enforcement as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, before Routh had a chance to take a shot.
Routh fled the scene in his vehicle, but was arrested on I-95 in neighboring Martin County a short time later after a witness snapped a picture of his license plate and gave the information to authorities.
There were no reported injuries during the incident.
It's the second time in 64 days that a would-be assassin has tried to murder Trump. Republicans pointed to the pattern as proof that the left needs to dial down its inflammatory rhetoric.
"This is evil," Trump campaign adviser Tim Murtaugh wrote in a post on X. "The day after Trump survived a second assassination attempt, Hillary Clinton is out trying to stir up a third one."
Donald Trump Jr., the former president's eldest son, posted on X that "Hillary Clinton knows exactly what she's doing here."
"Just a day after a Democrat donor and Kamala Harris supporter tried murdering my dad, she is purposely fanning the violent leftwing flames to put his life further in danger," he said.
Trump blamed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — his Democrat rival in the 2024 presidential race — for the second assassination attempt, telling Fox News that Routh "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 said.
Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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