Real estate developer Steve Witkoff said he felt “blessed” to have been with his friend former President Donald Trump on Sunday golfing when a second attempt was made on the Republican presidential candidate’s life.
On Sunday afternoon, a Secret Service agent opened fire on alleged gunman Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, after spotting a gun barrel protruding from hedgeline at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, with Trump and Witkoff nearby on the course.
Routh fled the scene, but he was later apprehended by Florida law enforcement.
“Yesterday was quite a day,” Witkoff recounted to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday night.
“I actually feel blessed that I was there yesterday. And the reason I feel blessed, Sean, is that I got to see what it’s like for my dear friend to live his normal life. His normal life, which is punctuated by two attempts to assassinate him in the last 60 days, being vilified since he left the presidency, falsely accused, [and] harassed,” he continued.
“Here he was yesterday on a beautiful day, just trying to get some rest and relaxation like all the rest of us, and there’s a man with an … assault rifle who’s attempting to kill him. It was terrible,” Witkoff said.
But it was Trump’s reaction to it all that inspired him.
“I got to see a man who was stoic, courageous, cared about his friends’ safety first before his own life. He was an inspiration to everybody who was around him yesterday. I wish the whole country could have witnessed what happened yesterday, because they would have seen a real leader,” Witkoff stated.
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“To this minute, I don’t know why I continued to stand. I think maybe it has something to do with just by osmosis, just being around my friend. He’s so courageous you feel inspired that you want to demonstrate a little bit of that yourself, if you can,” Witkoff said.
The New York businessman recounted that the reaction of the Secret Service was something to behold.
“The Secret Service were exceptional. They had the president secured, in my estimation, because I was five yards away from him, in my estimation, maybe after the first shot, certainly after the second shot. So, by the time the fourth shot rang out, the president was on his way with that detail,” he explained.
“It was as if they had practiced it 500 times before. It was pretty awesome to watch them. And they were heroic because their lives were on the line,” Witkoff said.
Two Secret Service snipers deployed right next to him and aimed at the tree line where the shooter was.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said Monday that Routh “did not have a line of sight to the former president” and did not fire at Secret Service agents before he fled the scene, according to the Associated Press.
Trump said on a lighter note after the incident, “I would have loved to have sank that last putt” and finished the round.
That’s the sort of aplomb and courage one wants to see in a commander in chief of the military.
Two of his heroes, World War II Gens. Douglas MacArthur and George S. Patton, would no doubt have been proud.
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