Authorities have refuted reports circulating online that explosives were found near the location of a planned rally for former President Donald Trump days after he survived an apparent assassination attempt.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was slated to hold a campaign event at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, on Wednesday. Unverified reports surfaced claiming that explosives were found in a car parked at the venue.
However, Nassau County Police Department Commissioner Patrick Ryder released a statement Wednesday denying the claims, labeling the earlier reports as “unfounded.”
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“Reports of explosives being found at the site are unfounded. There is a person who is being questioned who may have been training a bomb detection dog near the site,” stated Ryder.
“The individual with the bomb dog falsely reported explosives being found and that individual is currently being detained by the police.”
Trump held the campaign rally without incident on Wednesday evening, speaking for more than an hour and claiming that New York will become a “third-world nation” if the Democrats win in November.
“I say to the people of New York, with crime at record levels, with terrorists and criminals pouring in and with inflation eating your hearts out, vote for Donald Trump,” said Trump, as quoted by Politico. “What the Hell do you have to lose?”
Trump denounced “radical Democrat policies” and argued that his opponent, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, was “the leader of the movement of cashless bail just like she led the effort to defund the police.”
On Sunday, a gunman, later identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, went to the Trump International Golf Club in Florida while the Republican candidate was at the property.
According to authorities, Routh was between 300 and 500 yards away from Trump when a Secret Service agent spotted his weapon and opened fire. Routh was eventually arrested and charged with federal gun crimes.
Although a potential motive has not yet been determined, it is believed that Routh was likely attempting to assassinate the Republican presidential hopeful, who was unharmed.
For his part, Democratic President Joe Biden denounced the apparent second attempt on Trump’s life, saying in comments given on Monday, “Thank God the president’s OK.”
“One thing I want to make clear, the [Secret] Service needs more help, and I think the Congress should respond to their needs, if, in fact, they need more servicemen,” stated Biden, as quoted by ABC News.
“In America, we resolve our differences peacefully at the ballot box, not at the end of a gun. America suffered too many times the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet. It solves nothing. It just tears the country apart.”
In July, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, wounding Trump and killing another event attendee before being shot dead by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
