Republicans take aim at Secret Service and scrutinise would-be assassin's Ukraine views

Congress debates security shortcomings as the Republican Party struggles with internal divides over Kyiv

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. AP

The second attempted assassination of former US president Donald Trump has rallied bipartisan scrutiny of the US Secret Service, as the suspected gunman's pro-Ukraine history deepens a divide in the Republican Party over Kyiv's defence against Russia's invasion.

On Monday, US President Joe Biden told reporters that “the Secret Service needs more help”.

“I think Congress should respond to their needs … I think they need some more personnel.”

Ryan Routh, 58, was apprehended by agents at a golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, where Mr Trump was playing a round. Mr Routh was reportedly carrying an SKS-style rifle. Mr Trump was unharmed.

Congressman Ro Khanna, a Democrat, demanded on Monday that the US Secret Service expand Mr Trump's protection, calling the latest incident “unacceptable”.

“The Secret Service must come to Congress tomorrow, tell us what resources are needed to expand the protective perimeter, and lets allocate it in a bipartisan vote the same day,” he said.

A congressional task force investigating the first attempt on Mr Trump's life moved quickly on Sunday to demand answers.

The task force's Republican chairman, Mike Kelly, and Democratic ranking member Jason Crow said they had “requested a briefing with the US Secret Service about what happened and how security responded”.

The first assassination attempt against Mr Trump this summer saw the agency's director resign after intense scrutiny over the lack of security around the perimeter of the rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, where the shooting took place.

Agency testimony to Congress has highlighted a shortage of personnel and complications in communications protocol, among other issues.

Republican Congressman Josh Hawley on Monday released a “whistleblower report” compiled by his office, saying that agency had “slow-walked congressional investigations, misled the American people and shirked responsibility” in the Butler County shooting.

The Republican leadership is also arguing that Mr Trump is a victim of mounting political hatred and violence in the US.

“No leader in American history has endured more attacks and remained so strong and resilient. He is unstoppable,” Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson posted on X.

Analysis from The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, an NGO specialising in conflict data collection, shows that since the US 2020 election, 91 per cent of politically violent demonstrations have involved far-right militias, largely over “unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud” that Mr Trump has led the charge on.

Maga Republicans zero in on Ukraine

Members of Mr Trump's Republican Party are also intensifying their scrutiny of the suspected gunman's history of support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, spent time in Ukraine trying to raise support for the war. He was even interviewed by The New York Times over his work to recruit Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban to fight for Kyiv.

According to analysis from CNN, the bulk of the posts on Mr Routh's social media accounts have centred on Ukraine's fight against Russia, including claims that he himself fought on the battlefield for Kyiv.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Republican, hinted in a post on X that Mr Trump's views on the war in Ukraine could have played a role in the gunman's motives.

“Trump has said repeatedly that he will end Ukraine war … [the suspect's] obsessed with the war in Ukraine, which is funded by the US,” wrote Ms Greene.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskovon on Monday said that Mr Routh's Ukrainian links showed that “playing with fire” had consequences.

Mr Trump has said that he would not commit to approving additional US aid to Ukraine if re-elected, and in his first term he faced impeachment over allegations of an attempted quid pro quo arrangement over financial support to Kyiv.

His allies in Congress, including Ms Greene, have been on the front lines of a deepening divide within the Republican Party over aid to Ukraine as the “Make America Great Again” segment of the party softens its stance on Russia.

Washington has passed several funding packages that amount to upwards of $170 billion in funding for Kyiv since Russia's invasion in February 2022 – but not without opposition from Maga Republicans.

Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who is among the party's most vocal opponents of Ukraine aid, described the movement as “a generational shift in my party away from neoconservatism towards foreign policy realism”.

Mr Trump has also faced scrutiny from Washington's more traditional foreign policy thinkers over his cosying up to Russia and President Vladimir Putin, as well as his statements against the Nato alliance.