Connect with us

Published

on

US President Joe Biden has said the Secret Service needs more help after Donald Trump was targeted in an apparent assassination attempt on Sunday.

Mr Biden said he was thankful Mr Trump was “OK” before adding he did not yet have a full report of what happened.

He added: “One thing I want to make clear is that the service needs more help and I think Congress should respond to their needs.”

When asked what extra help the service needs, Mr Biden said it might need to be considered whether the service needs “more personnel or not”.

He made the remarks after the FBI said an “apparent assassination attempt” on Mr Trump was thwarted on Sunday, with a man arrested and an assault rifle recovered.

Mr Trump was playing a round at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach in Florida when gunshots were heard.

It is not yet known whether the suspect fired first, fired a round at all or if only the Secret Service fired.

Follow latest: Suspect detained after ‘running out of bushes’

The former US president was on the fifth hole when he was tackled to the ground by security agents fearing an attempt on his life.

The fifth hole in the north-eastern corner of the golf course is just over 300 metres (328 yards) from the southern perimeter fence.

The course is lined with thick foliage, but satellite images show the area between the fence and the approximate point Mr Trump had reached on the course is mostly open water and grass – with the sightline potentially blocked by some trees bordering the lake.

Agent spotted rifle barrel poking out if fence

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters that a Secret Service agent, who was patrolling the course ahead of Mr Trump, spotted a rifle barrel coming out of a perimeter fence.

“He immediately engaged that individual, at which time the individual took off,” he said.

Mr Bradshaw said Mr Trump was about 300 to 500 yards (275 to 460m) from the suspect, named as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, at the time.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump ‘apparent assassination bid’ timeline

Dave Aronberg, Palm Beach County’s state attorney, told MSNBC the suspect was “lying in wait” for Mr Trump.

“We are not sure right now if the individual was able to take a shot at our agents”, Rafael Barros, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Miami field office, has told a news conference.

Ryan Routh.
Pic: Martin County Sheriff's Office
Image:
Ryan Routh pictured as he is arrested. Pic: Martin County Sheriff’s Office

Routh fled in a black Nissan SUV and was arrested after his vehicle was stopped by local police, Sky News’s US partner network NBC News reported, citing three senior law enforcement officials.

He was stopped by police driving northbound on the I-95 highway, about 46 miles and a 43-minute drive from the golf course.

The southern perimeter fence runs along Summit Boulevard, where a police cordon was put up and officers were seen searching the bushes bordering the golf course.

Officers later searched the area where the man, believed to be Routh, was spotted and found an AK-47-style rifle with a scope, two rucksacks and a GoPro.

Pic: Ryan Routh / Facebook
Image:
Suspect Ryan Routh. Pic: Ryan Routh/Facebook

Earlier, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder described how his officers followed the suspect’s vehicle for a while before making a “felony stop”.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Footage of Trump’s assassination suspect

Pictures of the guns were displayed at the news conference
Image:
Pictures of the gun and rucksacks were displayed at the news conference

He said: “Our road units picked the vehicle up and we waited a while. We didn’t stop him right away. We didn’t want a high-speed chase.

“So we were able to wait until we had adequate units, surrounded the vehicle, and forced it to a stop.”

He added they managed to take the suspect into custody peacefully.

Routh has since appeared in a federal courtroom in West Bank Palm Beach, Florida.

Read more:
What we know about what happened so far
Urgent question over how ‘assassination attempt’ may affect election – analysis

Police vehicles are pictured near Trump International Golf Club after gunshots were reported in the vicinity of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump. Pic: AP
Image:
Police vehicles are pictured near Trump International Golf Club. Pic: AP

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump says, ‘he will never surrender’

Afterwards, a statement from Mr Trump said: “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumours start spiralling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!

“Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER! I will always love you for supporting me.

“Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again. May God bless you.”

Mr Trump's motorcade near the golf club
Image:
Mr Trump’s motorcade heading to Mar-a-Lago after the incident

Mr Trump has since returned to his Mar-a-Lago resort.

A White House statement said after the incident: “The president and vice president have been briefed about the security incident at the Trump International Golf Course, where former president Trump was golfing.

“They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team.”

Ryan Routh pictured in 2022  during a rally for support of Ukraine, at the Independence Square in Kyiv.
Pic: Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine Suspilne/Reuters
Image:
Ryan Routh pictured in 2022 during a rally for support of Ukraine, at the Independence Square in Kyiv.
Pic: Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine Suspilne/Reuters

What do we know about the suspect?

Routh is reported to have travelled to Ukraine in an attempt to help the country in its fight against Russia.

A video has emerged of an interview he gave to Newsweek in 2022 where he spoke about his efforts to recruit foreign volunteers for Ukraine’s ground forces.

It has also emerged Routh wrote a book about the conflict where he described how he “gave up and quit”, a decision he says makes him “the worst of humans”.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that public records show Routh faced criminal charges over two separate incidents in 2002 for possession of a weapon of mass destruction – which can refer to a machine gun.

He pleaded guilty to the first charge in April 2002, but no other details were publicly available, according to the newspaper.

The News & Record reported that later that year he was also charged after barricading himself in a United Roofing building in Greensboro for three hours, armed with a machine gun.

The incident began after he was pulled over for a traffic stop, but police eventually arrested him without incident.

In that case, he is said to have pleaded guilty to driving without a licence and registration, resisting a public officer and carrying a concealed firearm – while public records reportedly indicate the weapon of mass destruction charge was dropped.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Sky’s Mark Stone reports from outside the golf course in Florida where a suspect was seen with a gun

According to records, Routh lived in North Carolina for most of his life before moving to Kaaawa, Hawaii, in 2018, the Associated Press reported.

In relation to the incident at Mr Trump’s golf course on Sunday, Routh’s son has told CNN that he hopes “everything has been blown out of proportion” and that it would be unlike his father to “do anything crazy, much less violent”.

Oran Routh said: “Ryan is my father, and I don’t have any comment beyond a character profile of him as a loving and caring father, and honest, hardworking man… He’s a good father, and a great man, and I hope you can portray him in an honest light.”

It comes two months after Mr Trump sustained an ear injury during an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania in July.

The gunman, who was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by the Secret Service at the scene.

The attempt on Mr Trump’s life led to the resignation of Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle, who admitted to Congress that her agency had its “most significant operational failure” in decades.

Continue Reading

US

Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault, has died, her family says

Published

on

By

Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault, has died, her family says

Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault, has died aged 41.

In a statement to Sky’s US partner network NBC News on Friday, her family said she took her own life in the Perth suburb of Neergabby, Australia, where she had been living for several years.

“It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,” her family said.

“She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.

“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors.

“In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”

FILE - Virginia Giuffre, center, holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court in New York, Aug. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
Image:
Pic: AP

Police said emergency services received reports of an unresponsive woman at a property in Neergabby on Friday night.

“Police and St John Western Australia attended and provided emergency first aid. Sadly, the 41-year-old woman was declared deceased at the scene,” a police spokeswoman said.

“The death is being investigated by Major Crime detectives; early indication is the death is not suspicious.”

Sexual assault claims

Prince Andrew attends the Royal Family's Christmas Day service at St. Mary Magdalene's church. File pic: Reuters
Image:
Prince Andrew has denied all claims of wrongdoing. File pic: Reuters

Ms Giuffre sued the Duke of York for sexual abuse in August 2021, saying Andrew had sex with her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by his friend, the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The duke has repeatedly denied the claims, and he has not been charged with any criminal offences.

In March 2022, it was announced Ms Giuffre and Andrew had reached an out-of-court settlement – believed to include a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”.

She stuck by her version of events until the end

Of the many dozens of victims of Jeffrey Epstein, it was Virginia Giuffre who became the most high-profile.

She was among the loudest and most compelling voices, urging criminal charges to be brought against Epstein, waving her right to anonymity in 2015.

She told how he and Ghislaine Maxwell groomed her and “passed around like a platter of fruit” to be used by rich and powerful men.

But her name and face became known around the world after she accused Prince Andrew of sexually abusing her when she was 17 years old.

The picture of her together with the prince and Maxwell at the top of a staircase, his hand around her waist, is the defining image of the whole scandal.

Prince Andrew said he had no memory of the occasion. But Giuffre stuck by her version of events until the end.

‘An incredible champion’

Sigrid McCawley, Ms Giuffre’s attorney, said in a statement that she “was much more than a client to me; she was a dear friend and an incredible champion for other victims”.

“Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring,” she said. “The world has lost an amazing human being today.”

“Rest in peace, my sweet angel,” she added.

Follow The World
Follow The World

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday

Tap to follow

Dini von Mueffling, Ms Giuffre’s representative, also said that “Virginia was one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honour to know”.

“Deeply loving, wise, and funny, she was a beacon to other survivors and victims,” she added. “She adored her children and many animals.

“She was always more concerned with me than with herself. I will miss her beyond words.

“It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.”

Ms Giuffre said at the end of March she had four days to live after a car accident, posting on social media that “I’ve gone into kidney renal failure”. She was discharged from hospital eight days later.

Raised mainly in Florida, she said she was abused by a family friend early in life, which led to her living on the streets at times as a teenager.

She said that in 2000, she met Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite who was convicted in 2021 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Undated handout photo issued by US Department of Justice of Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein, which has been shown to the court during the sex trafficking trial of Maxwell in the Southern District of New York. The British socialite is accused of preying on vulnerable young girls and luring them to massage rooms to be molested by Epstein between 1994 and 2004. Issue date: Wednesday December 8, 2021.
Image:
Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: US Department of Justice

Ms Giuffre said Maxwell then introduced her to Epstein and hired her as his masseuse, and said she was sex trafficked and sexually abused by him and associates around the world.

‘A survivor’

After meeting her husband in 2002, while taking massage training in Thailand at what she said was Epstein’s behest, she moved to Australia and had a family.

She founded the sex trafficking victims’ advocacy charity SOAR in 2015, and is quoted on its website as saying: “I do this for victims everywhere.

“I am no longer the young and vulnerable girl who could be bullied. I am now a survivor, and nobody can ever take that away from me.”

:: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.

Continue Reading

US

Trump met with Zelenskyy ahead of Pope’s funeral

Published

on

By

Trump met with Zelenskyy ahead of Pope's funeral

Donald Trump has met Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the Pope’s funeral, Vatican sources have told Sky News.

The US and Ukrainian presidents had a “very productive discussion”, according to a White House Official, and have also agreed to hold further talks after the service.

They are among world leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, who are attending the funeral of Pope Francis.

Follow live updates: Zelenskyy among world leaders joining thousands of mourners

There was applause from some of those gathered in St Peter’s Square when the Ukrainian leader walked out.

The former British ambassador to Russia Sir Tony Brenton said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy.

U.S President Donald Trump attends the funeral Mass of Pope Francis, at the Vatican, April 26, 2025. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
Image:
Trump and Zelenskyy meet for first time since Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters

He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine, and is their first face-to-face meeting after a very public row between the presidents at the White House in February.

More on Ukraine

The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.

They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.

Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.

He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.

Meanwhile, the Polish Armed Forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening, in a post on X.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Continue Reading

US

Donald Trump says Russia and Ukraine are ‘very close to a deal’ – and says ‘two sides should now meet’

Published

on

By

Donald Trump says Russia and Ukraine are 'very close to a deal' - and says 'two sides should now meet'

Donald Trump has said Russia and Ukraine are “very close to a deal” with “most of the major points agreed” – as he called for the two sides to meet.

Shortly after arriving in Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral, the US president said high-level officials should now meet to “finish [the deal] off”.

“A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off’.

“Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Ukraine-Russia peace talks explained

Throughout the week, the US president has criticised both Ukraine and Russia for failing to agree to a peace deal.

On Wednesday, he accused Mr Zelenskyy of harming talks on Truth Social, saying “the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE”.

More on Donald Trump

A day later, after nine people were killed in Kyiv after a Russian missile and drone strike, Mr Trump said: “Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Let’s get the Peace Deal DONE!”

The president and other officials have also threatened to withdraw from negotiations if no progress is made toward a deal.

It comes after Mr Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss a US-brokered peace plan for Ukraine.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Putin-Witkoff meeting

The talks allowed Russia and the United States to “further bring their positions closer together” on “a number of international issues”, a Kremlin aide said.

Speaking earlier on the flight to Italy, Mr Trump said he hadn’t been fully briefed on Mr Witkoff and Mr Putin’s meeting – but added it was a “pretty good meeting”.

Read more:
US and Russia talks moving in ‘right direction’, top diplomat says
A ‘barbaric’ 24 hours in a ‘horrendous’ war

Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.

Ukraine has repeatedly said it would not accept a deal conceding land or handing over sovereignty to Russia.

However, Mr Trump said in an interview with TIME magazine that “Crimea will stay with Russia,” describing the region as a place where Moscow has “had their submarines” and “the people speak largely Russian”.

“Zelenskyy understands that, and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time,” he added. “It’s been with them long before Trump came along.”

When asked on Friday about Mr Trump’s comments, Mr Zelenskyy did not want to comment but repeated that recognising occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian is a red line.

Continue Reading

Trending