During a rally, Donald Trump admitted to attendees that he was unaware of the then-ongoing manhunt for Ronald Lee Syrvud, who had threatened to assassinate the Republican
On Thursday, Trump admitted that he had not been told about the potential threat posed by a suspect who threatened his life in Arizona — or the manhunt that was underway at the time to find him.
Watch:
One reporter asked Trump directly whether he’d been informed that someone had threatened his life — and that there was a manhunt still underway to track down the suspect — and Trump simply replied: “No.”
“For the Daily Mail, today there was a manhunt going on in this county, somebody made death threats to you,” he said. “Did you hear about that before coming?”
“No,” Trump said.
“What are your thoughts coming down here? Some people told me it’s dangerous for you to be here,” the reporter followed up.
“I’ve heard it’s dangerous, but I also have a job to do,” Trump said. “I heard it’s very dangerous, I hadn’t heard about that. They probably want to keep it from me.”
“Thank you for telling me,” he added with a laugh, looking over his shoulder and joking to his Secret Service detail, “Let’s get outta here, right now. No, thank you very much for saying, but no, and I have great respect for Secret Service, the job they do — including a month and a half ago when they were jumping on top of me with bullets flying right at them, so
Ronald Lee Syrvud, 66, was arrested by Cochise County authorities while Trump was visiting Arizona to address the southern border crisis.