Biden and Trump speak after potential assassination attempt

President Biden and former President Trump spoke over the phone Monday after an apparent assassination attempt against the Republican nominee at his Florida golf course.

“We had a very nice call. It was about Secret Service protection,” Trump said in a statement.

The White House described the call as “cordial” and said Biden “conveyed his relief that [Trump] is safe.”

Biden earlier Monday expressed his relief that Trump was safe and said the Secret Service “needs more help.”

“I think the Congress should respond to their needs, if they, in fact, need more Service people. So, that’s what we’re going to be talking about,” Biden told reporters.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged Monday with two gun crimes after allegedly pushing the muzzle of a rifle through the fence along the perimeter of Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course in Florida while he was there, prompting a Secret Service agent to fire at him.

The incident came roughly two months after a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa., hitting the former president in the ear. One rally attendee, as well as the gunman, died.

Trump on Monday blamed the rhetoric of Biden and Vice President Harris, his opponent in November’s election, for inciting violence against him.

“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,” Trump told Fox News Digital.

Both Biden and Harris have warned Trump is a grave threat to democracy and freedoms like access to reproductive health care. The two have both condemned Sunday’s incident and political violence more broadly.

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