Former President Donald Trump has responded to a report that an Arizona man had threatened his life while he visited the U.S.-Mexico border in the key battleground state on Thursday.
“There’s a manhunt going on in this county… Somebody made death threats to you,” a reporter asked as Trump held a press conference in Cochise County near the border. “Did you hear about that before coming? What are your thoughts about coming down here? Some people told me it’s dangerous for you to be here.”
After telling the reporter he had not been informed about the threat beforehand, he said: “I’ve heard it’s dangerous but I also have a job to do. I heard it’s very dangerous. I haven’t heard about that, they probably want to keep it from me, thank you for telling me.”
He then quipped: “Let’s get outta here right now!”
Trump went on to say he has “great respect” for the Secret Service though he suggested that the agency fouled up last month when a rooftop adjacent to where he was speaking at a rally was left unattended and an attempt was made on his life. Trump narrowly escaped death as 20-year-old gunman Thomas Crooks fired at him, grazing his right ear while killing one man behind Trump and wounding two others.
WATCH:
The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office has arrested Ronald Lee Syvrud after conducting a manhunt in Arizona for the convicted sex offender who allegedly threatened to kill former President Donald Trump.
Syrvud is the subject of numerous outstanding warrants for his arrest, including those for a DUI in Wisconsin and a hit-and-run in Arizona, according to Sheriff Mark Dannels of the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office. Additionally, he is being pursued for neglecting to register as a sexual offender.
Syvrud was convicted of second-degree sexual assault of a minor on April 6, 2001, and was subsequently added to Wisconsin’s sex offender registry. He is listed as having a lifetime registration and a variety of aliases.
“Public Safety consideration: Syvrud is being sought as an investigative lead for threats to kill a presidential candidate,” Dannels noted.
While he was at the border, Trump noted in his presser that when he left office, he gave Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the “strongest border.”
“When I left office, I gave Kamala Harris the strongest and most secure border in American history. These people have done an incredible job. They worked with lots of others. And if you came here illegally, you got caught and you were deported or put in jail, depending on what. In some cases, we put them in jail because we didn’t want, they were so violent, we didn’t want to take a chance that they’d come back,” Trump said.
“But generally, they were deported. And brought into countries that wouldn’t accept them before me. With me, they accepted them. They wouldn’t take him back, but with me they accepted them. I said, you’re going to have a lot of problems if you don’t. We ended catch and release. We had Remain in Mexico. The greatest possible — Remain in Mexico,” he added.
“How good was that? Everybody remained in Mexico until they were checked out and either they came in or not. Most of them didn’t qualify. Title 42, safe third agreements. And 500 miles of border wall that was very, very difficult to even think about getting over, around or under. The final gaps of the wall were about to be sealed. Then Kamala came in and dismantled every single Trump border policy and halted all wall construction,” Trump continued.
