Former President Donald Trump abruptly left after ending his interview near the Arizona border, citing security concerns in the wake of assassination threats he has been receiving in the state.
Trump was giving an interview to Ali Bradley, who asked him about the situation in the bordering region and mentioned the aspiring assassin who had been threatening the former president in the state. Bradley was still asking her questions when Trump interrupted and told her that both of them were not safe standing there as he said goodbye to the reporter and entered his vehicle surrounded by his Secret Service detail.
During the interview, Bradley mostly questioned Trump about RFK Jr., who was still in the presidential race at the time. She asked about Trump’s and RFK Jr.’s possible partnership, to which the former president replied that he had not spoken with Kennedy about this but added that he would always welcome his endorsement. Trump also branded RFK Jr. as “a little different” and “very smart” person during the interview.
Later that day, the Arizonian man who threatened to kill Trump on social media was arrested after a long manhunt. According to the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, the 66-year-old, Ronald Lee Syvrud, is a serial offender and has previously been wanted in Wisconsin.
Trump was visiting the border as part of his political campaign at a time when illegal immigration through the US Southern border is likely to impact the voters’ decisions this November. After Biden’s dropout from the race, Trump has tried to revolve his campaign around the issue of illegal immigration and has accused his rival Kamala Harris of exacerbating this crisis.
Talking about the political violence against him, Trump said that he wants to bring bad people to justice, which is the reason why such people are turning against him.
This marked the latest instance of election-related violence in the United States. Recently, a Virginian man was arrested and charged with threatening Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, while another man was detained in December last year for terrorizing the GOP presidential nominees.
Similarly, a Pakistani man allegedly backed by Iran was also arrested in for paying $5,000 to an undercover FBI agent who posed as a hitman to kill a political candidate, presumably Donald Trump.
Most of this came after the unfortunate assassination attempt of Trump when bullets narrowly escaped his head in Pennsylvania, an event that has brought the Secret Service under intense scrutiny.
