After an attempted and a foiled assassination attempt on Donald Trump, there is great concern. Now the arrest of an armed man also raises questions.
The arrest of an armed man outside a campaign rally for Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump is puzzling. On Saturday before Trump’s appearance in southern California, the police stopped a man who wanted to drive a car into the area during an access control.
Local Sheriff Chad Bianco later said the man was carrying two unregistered guns and ammunition, as well as various passports and driver’s licenses with different names. The car was also not registered and the license plate was “homemade”.
According to police, there are indications that the man belongs to a group comparable to the “Reichsbürger” in Germany. The 49-year-old was temporarily taken into custody for weapons law violations. He was released on bail shortly afterwards, Bianco said. The investigation was still ongoing. A court hearing is scheduled for January 2nd.
Secret Service: Donald Trump was not in danger
The fact that Trump held a campaign event in Coachella, California on Saturday surprised political experts. The west coast state is considered firmly in Democratic hands. Nevertheless, numerous people came to Trump’s rally, which took place in temperatures of around 38 degrees.
The arrest occurred before Trump even arrived at the rally site. The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting Trump, emphasized that the ex-president was not in danger. At a press conference, Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is also a Trump supporter and appeared at the campaign rally in Coachella, speculated about another assassination attempt directed against Trump. “If you ask me now, I probably had officers who prevented the third attack attempt,” said Bianco, who was formerly a member of the far-right U.S. militia Oath Keepers.
After the suspect’s release, several US journalists spoke to the man, who rejected the accusation of an attack plot as nonsense. Rather, he was a big Trump fan, an acquaintance of the man told the Daily Mail. The New York Post quoted security sources as saying that the Secret Service considered it unlikely that the man wanted to assassinate Trump. The Federal Police FBI is not investigating the incident as a possible assassination attempt. As a member of a right-wing extremist group, the suspect probably only carried the weapons for “personal defense,” the tabloid reported.
In mid-July, a gunman shot Trump from a nearby roof at a campaign event in Pennsylvania, wounding the Republican in the ear. The perpetrator was shot by security forces and a visitor died. The Secret Service also assumes that it thwarted a second assassination attempt on Trump in Florida shortly afterwards.
Source: Stern
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