FLINT, MI — Former President Donald Trump, speaking at his first town hall event in Flint, Michigan, since surviving an assassination attempt on Sunday, argued that “serious” presidents face the kind of threats he has received over the past few months.
“You wonder why I was targeted? Only presidents who matter get targeted,” Trump said at a town hall meeting at the Dort Financial Center in Flint.
The event marked Trump's first official campaign stop since the latest assassination attempt on Sunday, when U.S. Secret Service agents discovered a lone gunman while Trump was playing golf at Trump International Golf Club in Florida.
Decision to make: House Speaker Mike Johnson's government funding bill divides Republicans
Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, September 17, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Kowalski/AFP) (Photo by Jeff Kowalski/AFP via Getty Images)
The shooter, identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was spotted by Secret Service agents as Trump was walking between the fifth and sixth holes of the course. Agents spotted Routh's rifle and scope protruding from some bushes and opened fire.
Trump, who was about 300 to 500 yards away from the shooter at the time of the incident, escaped unharmed.
The assassination attempt was the second on Trump and came just over two months after the former president was grazed by a bullet in the ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Reflecting on the assassination attempt that took place during an event in Michigan, Trump said being president and running for president is a “dangerous business.”
FBI agents collected evidence around the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, September 16, 2024. (Mega from Fox News Digital)
Rubio accuses Democrats of “clearly” influencing second would-be Trump assassin with inflammatory rhetoric
“This is a dangerous business. But being the president, it's a little bit dangerous. You know, they think driving race cars is dangerous. No, they think bull riding is dangerous. That's pretty scary, right? No, this is a dangerous business and we've got to keep it safe,” Trump said.
The former president spent much of the rally in a key battleground state criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris on issues including inflation and the auto industry.
“I want to tell the people of Michigan that if I don't win, within a couple of years, the auto industry will be gone,” Trump said. “China is going to take over all of Michigan's businesses because they have electric cars and they have the materials that we don't have.”
Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Kowalski/AFP) (Photo by Jeff Kowalski/AFP via Getty Images)
Click here to get the FOX News app
Michigan is expected to play a key role in this year's election: Trump won the state by less than 1 percentage point in 2016 but lost to President Biden by less than 3 percentage points in 2020.
Polls show the race is once again tight in the state, with Harris holding a lead of less than one percentage point as of Tuesday, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average.
