A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, with the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate.
“Violence targeting public officials endangers everything our country stands for, and the Department of Justice will use every available tool to hold Ryan Routh accountable for the attempted assassination of former President Trump charged in the indictment,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a press release. “The Justice Department will not tolerate violence that strikes at the heart of our democracy, and we will find and hold accountable those who perpetrate it. This must stop.”
On the same day that Routh was indicted for the second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, U.S. intelligence officials briefed Trump on threats from Iran to assassinate him, reported NBC News.
“President Trump was briefed earlier today by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“Intelligence officials have identified that these continued and coordinated attacks have heightened in the past few months, and law enforcement officials across all agencies are working to ensure President Trump is protected and the election is free from interference.”
NBC News reports on another related development that took place Tuesday, Congress’ passing of a bill to boost presidential candidate security. Here’s the start of the story:
WASHINGTON — The Senate unanimously passed legislation Tuesday to boost Secret Service protection for presidential candidates, sending the bill to the White House for President Joe Biden’s signature.
The strong show of bipartisan support came days after the House passed the measure, known as the Enhanced Presidential Security Act, without any opposition in a 405-0 vote.
The bill would give former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris the same level of protection provided to Biden. At only three pages long, the bill gives broad discretion to the Secret Service on how to apply measures to reach that level.
It comes the same month as an apparent second attempt to assassinate Trump. Biden called on Congress to act last week, saying that the Secret Service “needs more help.”
The Trump campaign, the Harris campaign and the Secret Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Senate passage of the bill.
The Enhanced Presidential Security Act was introduced in the House by Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., brought the legislation to the Senate floor.