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Exclusive | Would-be Trump assassin exploited security hole that Secret Service has known about for years — and the pictures prove it

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Exclusive | Would-be Trump assassin exploited security hole that Secret Service has known about for years — and the pictures prove it

The gunman who allegedly staked out former President Donald Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course with an SKS rifle was able to exploit a security hole that the Secret Service has known about for years.

News photographers — including those hired by The Post — have had no problem repeatedly securing spots around the perimeter of the course to snap pictures of Trump playing golf or driving around in a golf cart.

They have even taken images — which require a clear line of sight to the 45th president — unnoticed through the bushes with telephoto lenses. Some have gotten as close as 75 yards — without so much as a sideways glance from the Secret Service.

News photographers have used the gaps in foliage at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club to take pictures of him — a security gap gunman Ryan Routh exploited.
Then-President Donald Trump playing golf on Dec. 28, 2020, at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach — the same club where the Secret Service foiled an assassination attempt this week. REUTERS/Marco Bello
Photojournalists have long been able to get pictures of Trump golfing from the perimeter of his courses. REUTERS
An example of an opening on the edge of Trump International Golf Club. MEGA
According a photo agency source, photographers are often amazed at how “easy” it is for them to get clear views of Trump. MEGA
Another opening between hole 5 and 6 at the course — the same hole where the shooter was waiting, MEGA

“They’re always amazed how close they can get to Trump and his entourage — it’s easy for them,” one photo agency source told The Post.

Photographers typically announce themselves to the Secret Service so they are not mistaken for threats, but the source said agents are easy enough to evade.

Sources told the Washington Post that the Secret Service knew about the security risk, and tried to warn Trump about it — but he believed his golf clubs were safe.

The shocking near-miss attempt on Trump’s life came barely two months after Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to climb on a roof and fire eight shots at Trump — nicking his ear — at a rally in Butler, Pa. on July 13.

Authorities say Ryan Wesley Routh got within 300 to 500 yards of Trump after spending 12 hours in a makeshift sniper nest just outside the fence along Summit Boulevard, a busy thoroughfare of Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach.

Ryan Routh in police custody after getting arrested on I-95. MARTIN COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE/AFP via Getty Images
Routh was able to get within 500 yards of Trump at the edge of the course. MARTIN COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE/AFP via Getty Images
A backpack with a gun and camera where Routh was positioned on the edge of the golf course.

The golf club — which Trump frequents when he is staying at Mar-a-Lago — is a sprawling, wide-open expanse covering hundreds of acres, lined with dense tropical foliage and tree cover.

The source said photogs can snag pics of Trump “shockingly easily” at his West Palm Beach course, one noting “dozens” of covert gaps in the thick brush around the border.

Here’s what we know about the assassination attempt on Trump in Florida:

News photographers have used the gaps in foliage at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club to take pictures of him — a security gap gunman Ryan Routh exploited.

In areas where there’s no obvious break in the tree line, dedicated snoops can still sneak a view of the course. Some of the lighter flora can simply be pulled apart by hand, easily creating new gaps where just about anyone can watch golfers in action without being seen, the source said.

Even on rare instances when Secret Service agents do see a photographer near the course, they’re rarely questioned, the source said.

Trump’s Florida golf courses are popular destinations for photographers partly because of how easy it is to get close to him and his entourage for the perfect snapshot, sources tell The Post. DAMON HIGGINS/THE PALM BEACH DAILY NEWS / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Law enforcement shut down the roads adjacent to Trump’s West Palm Beach golf resort after the assassination attempt. AP
A law enforcement officer at the scene of the assassination attempt in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15, 2024. MEGA

The security detail is also exceedingly easy to see approaching on their golf carts, meaning photographers can keep an eye out for them and then hang back and lie low until Trump arrives.

“If they do approach the photographers, sometimes they quickly check their credentials but that’s about it,” the source claims.

The outside of the course is dotted with “No Trespassing” signs, but photographers are easily able to take their pictures from behind those signs, and they’re certainly no deterrent for someone up to no good.

Trump on a cart at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on July 28, 2022. Daniel William McKnight
A sniper stands sentry at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., on Sept. 13, 2024. AP

Trump was playing the fifth hole when Secret Service snipers noticed Routh’s gun barrel poking through a chain link fence between the sixth and seventh holes and opened fire on the suspect.

However, the location Routh chose to lie in wait in West Palm Beach wasn’t particularly favorable for photographers, owing to tricky angles and long distances.

Trump golfing at Trump National Doral Miami golf club with his granddaughter Kai and professional golfer Brooks Koepka on Oct. 27, 2022. AFP via Getty Images

“Routh could easily have picked a better spot, but maybe he was worried about being seen by a photographer,” the source added.

The source said it’s even easier to take pictures at the former president’s other Florida golf complex, Trump National Doral, about 77 miles from West Palm Beach.

A sketch of would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh in Florida federal court on Sept. 16, 2024. Lothar Speer
Routh was hit with federal gun charges. Lothar Speer

Doral has four courses, including the famed “Blue Monster,” which is “wide open” for photographers to take pictures.

On the other end of the security spectrum when it comes to Trump’s portfolio of golf resorts is his course in Bedminster, NJ, where state police often shut down adjacent roadways when the former president is hitting the links, and even photo agency sources concede getting any photos there is very difficult to impossible.

As for the lapses Sunday in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Trump’s security detail was lighter because he’s only a candidate for president — not the commander in chief.

“At this level that he is at right now, he’s not the sitting president,” Bradshaw told reporters at a press conference early Sunday evening. “If he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded.

Routh, 58, fled after being fired upon by Secret Service agents, but was arrested on I-95 in Palm City, about 40 miles north of Trump’s golf course, thanks in no small part to an eyewitness who spied the accused gunman getting into a black Nissan to flee the scene and took a photo to share with law enforcement.

He appeared, smiling and wearing shackles on his hands and feet, in a Florida federal court Monday morning as he was hit with felony gun charges.

— With additional reporting by Joe Marino

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