[Music]
first live local this is Fox 12
now hello everyone this is Fox2 now I'm
Greg nier thank you for joining us we
are live streaming here as we are
awaiting a uh news conference regarding
the alleged attempted assassination
attempt on President former president
Donald Trump over this last weekend um
we're waiting right now as you can see
I've got this pulled up we're expecting
the FBI and the Secret Service at least
to address uh the audience there with um
answering some more questions and some
of those charges that have been filed
for Ryan Wesley Ruth in that
assassination attempt so we're going to
go ahead and pull this up we don't know
when they're going to start we know that
it's supposed to be imminent but we want
to make sure that it's here for you as
soon as they do so so we'll bring this
up right now
for
lot
of
scr offal
here we go all right here we go walking
out heads up guys heads up
one one side one on the other one on one
side for
going to be some room in here if I don't
know that we' have gone to a bigger area
okay just a couple little housekeeping
things here in case you haven't been
with me at a press
conference we meaning the gentlemen that
are up here which is the uh us attorney
FBI Secret Service we're going to give
you everything that we have we're going
to give you the latest updates they're
going to tell you what's going on with
the investigation everything and when
we're going to do a limited amount of
questions so make them good right don't
get into what if and all
this get legitimate questions we got it
sir okay everybody ready yes sir okay
we're here today to give an update on
the investigation uh in regards to the
incident at U Trump
International with me is the US attorney
the FBI and the Secret
Service just to give you a little
information as you well know the road
down there on Summit still blocked off
it will be blocked off probably for the
remainder of today and probably a good
portion of tomorrow until some of the
investigative things need to be done and
finished but we're accommodating people
in and out getting them to the library
getting them to the post office so the
public is not going to be that far
inconvenienced the security level at
Mara Lago is the highest it can possibly
be now uh the road closures are back in
place and will remain there the check
are in in place and U my commitment to
the Secret Service is to give them every
possible resource from PBSO once they
determine the level of security that
they need they will get all the
resources possible so having said that
I'll let you talk to the US attorney
thank you
sh good
afternoon thank you for joining us today
my name is maren appoint I am the United
States Attorney for the SAT District of
Florida I want to start by expressing my
deep gratitude to sheriff Rick Bradshaw
of palmach County Sheriff's Office for
hosting today's press conference and for
his Department's assistance with this
matter I'm truly grateful for your
leadership
sir I'm also pleased to be joined by our
partners in federal law enforcement from
the FBI and the United States Secret
Service and also from ATF
joining us today for comments and
announcements are special in charge
Jeffrey B valry of the FBI Miami Field
office and acting director of the US
Secret Service Ron
row I want to also thank the men and
women in law enforcement who have been
working around the clock in the initial
phase of this ongoing
investigation our partners include
Federal and local authorities who
effectuated the apprehension of the
defendant and have aided in ensuring
federal charges were filed against him
this
morning we're here to announce that Ryan
Wesley Ralph 58 years old of Hawaii has
been charged by a criminal complaint in
the southern district of Florida with
Firearms offenses related to an incident
which occurred yesterday at Trump
International Golf Course right here in
West Palm
Beach Roth was charged federally with
possession of a firearm by a convicted
velon and possession and receipt of a
firearm with an obliterated serial
number he had his initial appearance
today before Magistrate Judge Ryan mccab
in the federal courthouse in West Palm
Beach according to the allegations in
the complaint a US secret service agent
walking the golf course perimeter saw
what appeared to be a rifle poking out
of the tree line after the agent fighter
service we in the direction of the rifle
a witness saw a man later identified as
Ralph fleeing the area in the tree line
ralth was later apprehended by officers
walking the golf course perimeter saw
what appeared to be a rifle poking out
of the tree line after the agent fired a
service weapon in the direction of the
rifle a witness saw a man later
identified as Ralph fing the area in the
tree line Roth was later apprehended by
officers from the the Martin County
Sheriff's Office in coordination with
the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
the complaint alleges that in the area
of the tree line from which Ralph fled
agents found a digital camera a backpack
a loaded SS style rifle with a scope and
a black plastic bag containing food the
serial number on the rifle was
obliterated according to the complaint
Roth was convicted of felonies in North
Carolina
in December
2002 and March
2010 and
therefore was prohibited from possessing
a
firearm the FBI is leading this
investigation this ongoing
investigation as the Attorney General
stated earlier today the FBI is
continuing its investigation of this
incident as an assassination attempt
upon the former president the
investigation remains at its early
stages
the entire Justice Department including
the FBI the United States attorney's
office for the southern district of
Florida and the National Security
division are coordinating closely with
our law enforcement Partners to fully
investigate and prosecute this
matter the charges we're announcing
reflect the strong collaboration of the
agencies represented here the US
attorney's office the Department of
Justice would be unable to carry forth
our mission without the invaluable
assistance of our federal federal state
and local law enforcement Partners I
would like to thank the Bureau of
Alcohol Tobacco firearms and explosives
and we have Chris Robinson here
specialist in charge and your secet
secret service for the invaluable
assistance they are providing they have
been providing I would also like to
recognize the Palm Beach County and
marttin County Sheriff's offices for
operating the defendant against without
the local authorities to assist in those
things it would be literally impossible
to accomplish the things we're able to
accomplish on the federal side
I want to personally thank I want to
personally express my gratitude to the
attorneys with the US attorney's office
for the S District of Florida and the
counterterrorism section of the Justice
Department's National Security division
for their non-stop work over the last 24
to 30 hours together we will continue to
work tirelessly to ensure accountability
and the pursuit of Justice at this time
I will invite FBI's special agent in
charge Jeff vry to the podium
after special agent in charge valry
completes his remark acting director of
the US Secret Service Ron row will
provide remarks before we open the floor
for a few questions on our end given
that this is a pening matter before the
court and the investigation is ongoing
all comments will be limited thank you
very
much Je
good
afternoon for a quick introduction my
name is Jeffrey
vry FBI special agent in charge for the
Miami Field
office the FBI immediately responded to
the scene here in West Palm Beach
Florida and we are investigating this
matter as an apparent assassination
attempt of former president
Trump we view this as an as extremely
serious and are determined to provide
answers as to what led up to the events
which took place
I want to emphasize we're just a little
over 24 hours into this
investigation so we're going to provide
as much as we can publicly while our
investigation is still
ongoing we must also stress that the
United States attorney's office is
pursuing charges and that limits some of
the details that we can discuss
publicly yesterday afternoon Martin
County Sheriff's Office took custody of
Ryan Ralph and he was transported back
to Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
our FBI agents then attempted to
interview him and he invoked his right
to an
attorney in the last 24 hours the FBI
and our partners have been dedicated to
investigating the incident and utilizing
all available
resources these re efforts have included
our investigative team and the United
States attorney's office for the
southern district of Florida in
conjunction with doj's National Security
division are actively working hand in
hand to pursue and subsequently execute
search
warrants thus far the warrants include a
video recording device subjects cellular
devices a vehicle and other electronic
devices located at previous known
addresses we are coordinating with the
United States Secret Service to complete
numerous interviews of Agents on
scene we have also interviewed seven
civilian Witnesses at the scene and that
is just the beginning our FBI's honolu
and Charlotte field offices have
initiated interviews of several family
members friends and former colleagues of
the
subject FBI has deployed several
specialty teams to and assets from FBI
headquarters and our lab division in
quano to include evidence and critical
incident response
Personnel the EV response team is
collecting and processing multiple
evidentiary items these range from the
rifle which is an SKS model with a scope
and obliterated serial numbers to two
bags the subject's
electronics and what appears to be
ceramic
tiles DNA has also been collected from
those items which are being sent to
quanico for
testing we will also process the sub
object's vehicle for
evidence the cellular analysis survey
team what we refer to is cast conducted
thorough analysis of the subject's
cellular device
locations the cast analysis aligns with
Witnesses account of The subject's
Presence at the scene both before and
around the time of the incident on
September
15th more specifically we're continuing
to conduct analysis and will be
compiling the subject's movements in the
days and months leading up to September
15th cellular data shows that the
subject was in the vicinity of the golf
course roughly 12 hours before the
engagement with the United States Secret
Service our investigative teams
conducted a neighborhood canvas in an
effort to collect and obtain relevant
video
footage the subject had an active online
presence and we are going through what
he posted and any searches he conducted
online in addition we're going through
media reports and public statements he
made that he wanted to recruit Afghan
soldiers and others to fight for
Ukraine the FBI has sent multiple
requests to companies for Returns on the
subject's phone and social media
accounts we received several returns and
are waiting on additional responses from
other companies as
well our investigative team is
completing analysis of the returns and
actioning leads as needed and we
anticipate continuing until the FBI
knows the full totality of the subject's
social media
Presence by way of his background in
2002 as the United States Attorney uh
mentioned the subject was charged and
convicted in North Carolina for
possession of a weapon of mass
destruction law enforcement checks also
revealed that from 1997 to 2010 the
subject had nous felony charges for
stolen
goods I can also share with you that he
was the subject of a previously closed
2019 tip to the FBI where it was alleged
he was a felon in possession of a
firearm in following up on the tip the
alleged complaintant interviewed was
interviewed and did not verify I repeat
did not verify providing the initial
information the FBI passed that
information to local law enforcement and
honolu on behalf of the FBI I would like
to thank the Palm Beach County Sheriff's
Office and Martin County Sheriff's
Office for their incredible work and
actioning the witnesses information and
rapidly apprehending the
subject I would also like to thank the
United States Secret Service the United
States attorney's office for the
southern district of
Florida the department of Justice's
National Security division the Bureau of
Alcohol Tobacco fire firearms and
explosives and our FBI field offices in
both Honolulu and Charlotte who have
been conducting additional law
enforcement activity related to the
subject your continued Partnerships have
been
invaluable oftentimes in law enforcement
we tell citizens to be vigilant and
aware of their
surroundings yesterday a citizen
provided remarkable assistance which led
to the arrest of this subject we
appreciate the Public's diligence and
passing potential tips and information
regarding the subject and this incident
to the
FBI if you have any information please
call 1 1800 call FBI or go online to
tips that's
tips.fbi.gov with that let me turn it
over to the United States Secret Service
acting director Ron
R good afternoon
everybody yesterday afternoon this
country was reminded of the heightened
and dynamic threat environment that the
United States Secret Service and its
protectees face on a daily basis
immediately following the assassination
attempt of former president Donald J
Trump on July 13th the Secret Service
moved to increase assets to an already
enhanced security posture for the former
president in the days that followed
President Biden made it clear that he
wanted the highest levels of protection
for former president Trump and for vice
president
Harris the Secret Service moved to
sustain increases in assets and the
level of protection sought and those
things were in place yesterday at
approximately 1:30 p.m. former president
Trump was playing golf during an off the
Record movement to the Trump
International Golf Course a secret
service Advance agent supporting the
front edge of the agency's layered
approach to protection encountered an
individual attempting to secrete himself
in the wood line this happened the
alleged gunman was on the public side of
the fence near the six green a layered
approach of security is integral to the
secret Services protective
methodologies and it's also the key to
our
success as former president Trump was
moving through the fifth Fairway across
the course and out of sight of the six
green the agent who was visually
sweeping the area of the six screen saw
the subject armed with what he perceived
to be a rifle and immediately discharged
his firearm the subject who did not have
line of sight to the former president
fled the scene he did not fire or get
off any shots at our
agent with reports of gunfire the former
president's close protection detail
immediately evacuated the president to a
safe location the protective
methodologies of the Secret Service were
effective yesterday the former
president's protective apparatus allowed
for the the early identification of the
threat and led to a safe
evacuation The increased assets directed
by the president by President Buton were
in place yesterday these included the
counter sniper team elements counter
surveillance place and counter
surveillance agents on the exterior
counter assault teams partnered with
local tactical assets from the palmach
county sheriff's office and counter
unmanned aerial system elements all of
these entities were present yesterday
and while all of these assets were in
place as I've said publicly we must
satisfy the basic requirements of the
secret Services protective
methodologies in partnership with local
law enforcement we did just that and the
agent's hypervigilance and the detailed
Swift action was textbook and I commend
them and our partners for an exemplary
response in keeping former president
Trump safe and I will tell you having
served in local law enforcement in Palm
Beach County I can state that I am
tremendously impressed and appreciative
for all of the efforts of the palmach
County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff
Schneider with the Martin County
Sheriff's Office but what was critical
to this was the quick reaction the
response the hypervigilance of the men
and women of the United States Secret
Service who since July 13th have been
rising to meet an unprecedented and
hyperdynamic threat environment and they
are rising to this moment and I could
not be more proud of them and the way
they have executed not only yesterday
but what they're doing today and what
they are doing tomorrow and what they
will always do because it is their Duty
thank
you okay all right well go slow here
folks all right don't everybody do it at
once ask who you want to answer the
question and then give the question I
have a question for you director um is
there any evidence to suggest that the
suspect knew that Donald Trump would on
the golf course at that time and was the
golf course searched thoroughly before
the former president's arrival so at
this time I uh it was an off the Record
movement meaning it was not on the on
the former president's official schedule
uh and what I go back to is the layered
approach uh the the elements uh and the
methodologies of the Secret Service uh
you know there was a front element uh it
did its job in sweeping ahead of the
president that's what identified this
individual who was in that line and the
Swift action of that agent doing his job
pushing out ahead sweeping uh while the
president was behind him several hundred
yards and several holes away out of
sight from the gunman did his job and
that was what uh alerted the detail and
the Swift action is what triggered that
the first question was there any
evidence to suggest that the suspect
knew that Donald Trump was going to be
on that golf course at that time based
on what I know now and it's an active
investigation I don't have any
information on that on that
how many times did your agents go around
the perimeter and scope out the golf
course during the 12 hours that this guy
was up in the so we this was an off the
Record movement uh it wasn't a site that
was on his scheduled uh it wasn't part
of his schedule so there was no posting
up of it because he wasn't supposed to
have gone there in the first
place have you briefed former president
Trump on your findings so far has
campaign asked for any changes in his
security going forward after yesterday
so
uh sorry sorry so uh I I've had a
conversation with the former president
um uh you know we've explained and we've
worked with the campaign uh the
president is aware that he has highest
levels of protection that the Secret
Service is providing
him reaction what we saw yesterday we
constantly evaluate based on threat and
yesterday what we show is that our
agents and our protective methodologies
and there's a lot of tactical Assets in
place things that have been put in place
as a result of what happened 60 days ago
those elements are working and that
demonstrates the redundancies that we
have and so we constantly evaluate we
will of course look at this and see what
lessons learned from it but as of right
now uh we are constantly evaluating that
threat and if we need to ratchet up
additionally we
will yes sir do we know when Ralph
arrived in Florida in general when he
arrived in pal the area that that's a
question probably for the FBI if he's
been at the golf course prior to this
scoping it out we're in the process of
collecting a lot of evidence and that
will be part of that investigation to
determine his whereabouts going back
quite some
time that's part of the investigation as
well again that's going to be a little
bit challenged until we're able to
determine the serial number on that gun
so we're hopeful to be able to do that
ofal ill we're still looking into
that L lock down was that a
miscommunication then being that
President Biden ordered the highest
level of protection you want to take the
okay so so here's the deal when it comes
to Secret Service protection uh we
provide the highest level so for example
yesterday counter assault team elements
I'm not going to go into the number of
of personnel that we have out there but
we have the highest levels from Secret
Service um when we work with the palmach
County Sheriff's Office uh like for
example yesterday during that emergency
action uh response uh we had their local
Tactical Team assets partner with our
local tactic Tactical Team assets we had
their helicopter up in the air providing
us 360 and situational awareness of the
overhead for any if there were any
potential threats coming to at us so uh
what we did yesterday was exercise our
emergency plan based on the number of
tactical assets and the highest level of
protection that we are providing uh the
sheriff and I have talked now clearly uh
when you go down Southern Boulevard
right now and you try to get over to
Palm Beach and you see the robust
presence that's existing outside of Mara
Lago the heavy uniform presence the
additional assets of the Secret Service
and for those of you that were here in
20 uh in in in 2017 when the president
was in office when you look at that
footprint now and you look at it today I
there's not much difference there there
is heavy uniform presence out there and
again what I go back to is yesterday was
an off- the record movement off the
Record and the president wasn't even
really supposed to go there it was not
on his official schedule and so we put
together a security plan and that
security plan
worked being in the vicinity special
agent adultery in terms of him being in
the vicinity based on his phone records
is there any evidence to show that Ralph
was in this in the vicinity in the area
before Sunday and when you say in the
vicinity does that mean right there spot
in those bushes or could it have been
you know down the street at a restaurant
it was in very close proximity to where
he was spotted by the Secret Service in
terms of your first question whether he
was there earlier our investigation is
still looking to determine that whoa
whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa we're
gonna do two more you get one all right
only two more you get one okay we
understand that the secret service has
asked Congress for additional resources
says the Butler rley have you received
those resources yet so thank you for
that that question so we are working uh
look the Secret Service operates under a
paradox
of zero fail
Mission but also that we have done more
with less for decades and this goes back
many many many many decades right what I
can tell you is that we have immediate
needs right now and we have great
support not only from President Biden
and you saw his public statement today
uh where he said that you know he's
going to direct his staff to make sure
that the Secret Service has the
resources its needs we're having
fantastic conversations with members of
Congress I've been up to the hill last
week we are continuing to have those
conversations but the long and short of
it is this coming out of Butler I have
ordered a paradigm shift the secret
Services protective
methodologies work and they are sound
and we saw that yesterday but the way we
are positioned right now in this Dynamic
threat environment it has given me
guidance to say you know what we need to
look at what our protective methodology
is we need to get out of a reactive
model and get to a Readiness model there
could be another geopolitical event that
could put the United States into a
kinetic conflict or some
other uh some other issue that may
result in additional responsibilities
and protectees of the United States
Secret Service and so we are working we
are making information available to all
of of our partners and I just want to
say that the commitment of Congress to
the Secret Service throughout the years
has been tremendous and we will continue
to work with them and secretary my orcus
whose support in making sure that we're
getting what we need has been phenomenal
he is one of our biggest Champions and
our Advocate and so we're having these
conversations and I feel confident that
we will get what we need we have
immediate needs we have future needs too
I need to make sure that our counter
snipers are the best trained counter
snipers in the world that they are
exactly doing what we need them to do
and that they match counterparts in the
military in tier one forces and right
now we are working with Congress to make
sure that we get those for our training
facility we also have a necessary need
for to make sure that we're getting the
Personnel that we have and that requires
us to be able to have the the the the
funding to be able to hire more people
you can't just give me money and say hey
we're we're going to make sure that
everybody gets overtime because the men
and women of the Secret Service right
now we are redlining them and they are
rising to this moment and they are
meeting the challenges right now and if
you look back at their their body of
work over the last 60 days the
Republican National Convention in
Milwaukee the Republican National
Convention in Chicago a visit of prime
minister Netanyahu to Washington DC and
to West Palm Beach which Palm Beach
County Sheriff's Office
supported and then we go into the
presidential debate in Philadelphia last
week and for those in the in the media
that have been to a national special
security event if you saw the national
Constitution Center last week what you
saw was pretty much a mini National
special security event with the number
of assets that were on that
perimeter and so our folks are rising to
this moment but it requires all of us to
be able to have good conversations and
make sure that we're getting the Secret
Service where it needs to be and I'm
confident that we will achieve that
because we don't have an alternative
success we we have to have it every day
we cannot have failures and in order to
do that we're going to have some hard
conversations with Congress and we're
going to achieve that last question one
more the special agent in charge of the
FBI yes sir did he act alone did he have
some kind of help at this point we're
still uh exploring that investigating
that our investigation will determine
that we do not have information that
he's been acting with anyone else at
present do we know how long he's been in
Florida when he arrived oh you snuck one
in
at this point our investigation is still
determining that thank you all right
anyhow that that's it we're not going to
we're not going to do anymore all right
you got a lot of information there the
last thing I will tell you is like the
director of The Secret Services you know
the president called me last night
president Trump he thanked me for
everything that we did along with the
Secret Service he knows we work great
together and he feels safe that's
important because he is and what we did
yesterday proves that the system can
work because the suspect didn't even get
close to getting a round off and we
apprehended him and brought him to
justice so we're we're very very proud
of that thank you folks for being here I
appreciate
it you his last name ruthal
heard I I I say Ralph but you say I say
tomorrow