Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, US.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Washington: Former US president Donald Trump has accused the Department of Justice and the FBI of "mishandling and downplaying" the recent apparent assassination attempt on his life, demanding that the state of Florida handle the case.
A second bid in two months on 78-year-old Trump's life took place on September 15 at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old owner of a small construction company in Hawaii, was detained in connection with the incident.
“The Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Department of Justice and FBI are mishandling and downplaying the second assassination attempt on my life since July," Trump said in a statement on Monday.
"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 Weaponised Lawfare since I announced my first Historic Campaign for the Presidency,” he said.
Trump is the Republican presidential candidate, running for the White House against Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris, for the November 5 presidential elections.
Trump further claimed that the Justice Department and FBI have a "conflict of interest" since they have been "obsessed with 'Getting Trump' for so long".
“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 (District Attorneys) and A.G.s (Attorney General)," he said.
"Shockingly, after the bullet went through my ear on that fateful day in Butler, Pennsylvania, the FBI Director went before Congress and falsely said that it may not have been a bullet, 'It was just glass or shrapnel' - a lie condemned by even my worst enemies. What he said was disgraceful, especially since it was witnessed LIVE by millions of people, and he was forced to immediately retract,” he said.
On July 13, the first failed assassination attempt on Trump was made during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a bullet grazed his ear.
“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,” he said.
“Florida charges would be much more serious than the ones the FBI has announced. The TRUTH would be followed, wherever it leads. OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM IS CORRUPT AND DISCREDITED, especially as it pertains to the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. LET FLORIDA HANDLE THE CASE!” Trump demanded.
The latest attack spawned new questions about Secret Service protective operations after the agency's admitted failures in preventing the attempted assassination this summer.