Erik Prince identifies for 'Blaze News Tonight' the first casualty of the second assassination attempt

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Erik Prince spoke to "Blaze News Tonight" on Monday about the latest attempt on President Donald Trump's life, the ostensible incompetence of certain federal agencies, possible security considerations moving forward, and what the former president ultimately lost on Sunday.

Paradise lost

Prince, a former U.S. Navy SEAL officer and founder of the private military company Blackwater, highlighted something otherwise glossed over in other analyses of the second failed assassination attempt: namely that Trump, vilified by the media and political establishment, has effectively lost his last refuge.

"The thing that really disgusted me on top of everything else is golfing was a happy place for Donald Trump," said Prince. "He loved to do it, he's good at it, and they took that away from him."

Prince noted that now, "every time he's on a golf course and he looks at a beautiful tree line, [Trump] thinks: 'Yeah, that's a beautiful tree line, but that's also where somebody can be hiding, waiting to shoot me.' I feel bad for the guy."

Federal failures and solutions

According to Prince, Trump not only lost his happy place but came close to losing his life once again "because nothing has changed."

While Kimberly Cheatle resigned as director of the U.S. Secret Service and a handful of agents supposedly were placed on leave, the private security expert suggested that the institutional rot remains.

"Nobody's been fired from the Secret Service," continued Prince. "There hasn't been a housecleaning of the head shed or of the ranks."

'You want hunters of men — people that think offensively.'

"You know the definition of insanity is to do the same thing again and again and expect a different result," added Prince.

Blaze News investigative reporter Steve Baker pressed Prince on whether Trump needs to "either supplement or replace" his Secret Service protection before the election.

Prince indicated that it would be prudent to reinforce Trump's security detail with some of the Pentagon's more reliable operators.

The Blackwater founder indicated there is "a lot of private-sector capability that's available" but that meshing those capabilities with a federal organization such as the USSS would prove very difficult.

"The problem with the Secret Service is there's 10 or 15 percent are fantastic. Olympic-level performance. Great. Another 20 or 30 percent are just bureaucrats showing up. There's another 50 percent that are just really useless and malign," continued Prince. "It wouldn't be hard to top-grade a lot. I just don't know how deep their bench is."

While Prince indicated Trump could supplement his security detail with elements from the private sector, it would be better to source operators from "Joint Special Operations Command, which houses SEAL Team Six and Delta."

"Take some operators from there because you want people that are predators. You want hunters of men — people that think offensively; who think, 'How am I going to kill Donald J. Trump?' And you say, 'This is the 20 ways we're going to do it.' And you plug every one of those 20 ways to make sure he is safe," said Prince.

By having offensive rather than reactive thinkers on the job, Prince indicated that Trump would be more secure against the likes of suspects like Routh and also better positioned to withstand attacks by more competent killers such as ISIS terrorists, Hezbollah militants, or Latin American gangs.

Localizing the investigation

Prince emphasized that the successful capture of alleged would-be assailant Ryan Routh was entirely the doing of local law enforcement and that FBI cannot be relied upon to conduct a proper investigation into what happened.

"The real heroes of yesterday are the sheriffs because they actually coordinated with each other across county lines," said Prince. "The feds had nothing to do with capturing that guy."

Officers from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and Martin County Sheriff's Office tracked the suspect down and arrested him on I-95, roughly 40 miles away from the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he apparently evaded the USSS.

"I don't have any confidence in the FBI Miami field office to do this investigation," said Prince, noting that Jeffrey Veltri, the special agent in charge "had to scrub, had deleted his social media history because he was so wildly anti-Trump."

A whistleblower told the House Judiciary Committee last year that the FBI compelled Veltri to delete his anti-Trump posts before he took over the Miami field office, reported the Washington Times.

According to the whistleblower's disclosure obtained by the Times, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy Director Paul Abbate, and Executive Assistant Director Jennifer Moore "wanted to ensure that Veltri appeared non-political, Veltri was ordered to remove all of his Facebook and social media posts that were anti-Trump."

The bureau downplayed allegations of political bias, particularly with regard to Veltri's selection for a position that oversees Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

'That opens the intellectual can of worms for every left-wing screwball.'

"This is the same FBI office that did the bogus raid on Mar-a-Lago on this documents case," Prince told "Blaze News Tonight." "So if you think he's going to do an honest job at digging into leftist conspiracy to kill President Trump, no way."

Prince underscored the need for Florida to conduct its own investigation — which Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) confirmed Sunday is happening.

The left's culpability

Compounding the problem of security issues for Trump is the president's continued demonization by the left.

"When the left makes, creates the intellectual space and the apocryphal claims that Donald Trump is Hitler and that he must be eliminated, he must be stopped at all costs, that he's a threat to democracy — that opens the intellectual can of worms for every left-wing screwball saying 'I'm going to be the savior of the left. I'm going to kill Donald Trump.' And that's exactly what this guy was doing," said Prince.

Ryan Routh, the suspected would-be assassin, is a convicted felon, an ActBlue donor, and a Ukraine war obsessive.

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) provided a succinct biography of the suspected would-be assassin in a Tuesday Blaze News op-ed:

Here is what we know so far: Kamala Harris has said that "democracy is on the line" in her race against President Trump. The gunman agreed and used the exact same phrase. He had a Biden-Harris bumper sticker on his truck. He was obsessed with Ukraine’s "fight for democracy" and absorbed many unhinged views about the Russia-Ukraine war. His name is Ryan Routh, and he donated 19 times to Democratic Party causes and zero to Republican ones.

Blaze News previously reported that Routh has repeatedly echoed Democratic talking points, including "DEMOCRACY is on the ballot" and that the Jan. 6 riot was a "catastrophe ... perpetrated by Donald Trump and his undemocratic posse."

In his self-published 2023 book "Ukraine's Unwinnable War," Routh invited Iranians to assassinate Trump, stating, "No one here in the US seems to have the balls to put natural selection to work or even unnatural selection."

Prince said Routh "was supercharged by the left's wild rhetoric" and "trophy hunting."

"He was there to be the one — the killer of Donald Trump," added Prince.

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Barack Obama spotted with BLACK EYE and BANDAGED FINGERS — rumors abound

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Barack Obama was spotted in public for the first time since the tragic (and mysterious) death of his personal chef, Tafari Campbell.

Only something wasn’t quite right.

Photographs show the former president’s eye looking bruised and his left fingers bandaged as he played golf.

“That’s really weird,” says Pat Gray.

Producer Kris Cruz has a theory that might explain Obama’s suspicious injuries.

Considering the speculation that Sasha, Obama’s youngest daughter, was “carrying on” with Campbell prior to his death, Kris thinks that “maybe [she] got knocked up.”

Add that to the fact that Sasha was seen over the weekend looking “very sad,” and Kris is confident his theory has merit.

But then Pat plays an old recording of Obama talking about his two daughters, and it’s clear we’ll probably never be able to test Kris’ hypothesis.

“I’ve got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old,” Obama bellows. “I’m gonna’ teach them, first of all, about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

“We’ll never know if she was pregnant, I’ll bet you that would be taken care of swiftly,” Pat says.

Regardless, there is no legitimate evidence that Barack’s minor injuries have anything to do with his former chef.

However, because “we’re lied to every single day,” says Pat, “people are going to speculate.”


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Professional PGA golfer tackled by security while trying to celebrate Nick Taylor's Canadian Open-winning, 72-foot putt

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Pro-golfer Nick Taylor won the RBC Canadian Open over the weekend, marking the first time since 1954 that a Canadian pulled off the feat.

Among his countrymen who rushed to congratulate him on the green was fellow golfer Adam Hadwin, who was hampered in doing so by a security guard with skills better tailored to another sport.

The win

Taylor, a 35-year-old three-time PGA Tour winner from Winnipeg, closed Sunday at the Oakdale Golf and Country Club in Toronto with a six-under round to finish on 17-under, joining English golfer Tommy Fleetwood at the top of the leaderboard.

The two traded birdies in a four-hole playoff amid miserable conditions and sporadic renditions of the Canadian anthem from the galleries.

On the par-five 18th, Fleetwood set himself up for a 12-foot birdie opportunity, reported SBNation.

Taylor, meanwhile, had set up an unlikely 72-foot eagle putt with a 221-yard second shot from a divot in the fairway — an unlikely eagle that was to become the longest-made putt of his PGA Tour career.

\u201cARE YOU SERIOUS?! \ud83d\udca5\n\n@ntaylorgolf59 drains a 72-footer for the win! @RBCCanadianOpen\u201d
— Golf on CBS \u26f3 (@Golf on CBS \u26f3) 1686526617

The audience erupted with excitement as the putt connected and secured for Taylor the $1.62 million prize.

The hit

Taylor embraced caddie Dave Markle while pro-golfers Mike Weir and Corey Conners made their way over unmolested.

Hadwin, on the other hand, rushed out to congratulate Taylor with a frothing bottle of champagne but was stopped in his tracks by a security guard who had mistaken him for a member of the crowd.

The ensuing tackle, which served to incorporate elements of a more kinetic sport into the day, was caught on video:

\u201cWhat happens when you chirp @jessicahadwin on Twitter...\n\n(Sorry @ahadwingolf)\u201d
— RBC Canadian Open (@RBC Canadian Open) 1686539846

Markle and others quickly intervened, clarifying that Hadwin was undeserving of lost yardage and helping the champagne-bearer to his feet.

CNN reported that Hadwin was later seen arm-in-arm with the security guard, whom tournament director Bryan Crawford indicated was just doing his job and "acting in the moment amidst a flurry of excitement and celebration on the green following one of the most iconic moments in Canadian sport."

Taylor told reporters, "Corner of my eye I saw he got a nice tackle there. ... I hope he's all right. He was upright when I saw him later, so I hope he doesn't wake up tomorrow morning with any broken ribs or anything."

Hadwin, who appears to have maintained his hold on the champagne bottle whilst falling backward, circulated an image of the hit with the caption, "Put it in the Louvre!"

\u201cPut it in the Louvre!\u201d
— adam hadwin (@adam hadwin) 1686544468

Hadwin's wife noted on Twitter that "in true Canadian form," he had apologized to the security guard for being tackled.

Taylor's tackled peer later honed in on the hit that ultimately mattered, tweeting, "Words cannot describe the magnitude of what you just accomplished. So proud of you, @ntaylorgolf59!"

The gratitude

Taylor, who remained vertical throughout the competition — long enough to jump 15 places to 44th in the world rankings — said with tears in his eyes, "I’m speechless. This is for all the guys that are here. This is for my family at home. ... This is the most incredible feeling."

The champion added, "I think it’s a tournament that we’ve circled on our calendar since probably junior golf. Ever since I’ve been on the PGA Tour this is one that we want to do as well as we can in, and the crowd support was the most unbelievable thing I will probably ever experience in my life."

The last player from Canada to win the Canadian Open was Pat Fletcher in 1954; however, the only previous Canadian-born champion was Karl Keffer from Tottenham, Ontario, who won in both 1909 and 1914.

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Hannity Mocks Biden For Golf Fail: ‘I’ve Never Hit The Ball Backwards’

Fox News host Sean Hannity reacted to the viral video showing President Joe Biden hitting a golf ball backwards in Delaware.