WEST PALM BEACH, Fl. — Federal agents investigating the latest assassination attempt against Donald Trump asked staffers at his West Palm Beach golf course whether they shared sensitive information with outsiders about when the former president would be at the club, The Post has learned.
The workers at Trump International Golf Course were questioned by the feds after Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, hid outside the property for 12 hours in a sniper’s nest before he was spotted by Secret Service agents as the 45th president was golfing Sunday.
Members of the FBI and Secret Service “asked a couple questions about who I tell when President Trump is here,” a golf club employee told The Post Monday.
“They asked everyone if we tell our friends when he comes and goes,” the worker said.
Federal authorities asked the employees if they recognized Routh, the would-be assassin who has since been hit with federal gun charges after lurking outside the course with an AK-style assault rifle.
No one claimed to have recognized Routh in any of the pictures they were shown, the employee said.
“Everyone was actually really nice to us; they said that we weren’t suspected of anything and they made sure I wasn’t too shaken up when they started talking to me,” the staffer continued.
The FBI and Secret Service worked in tandem to interview everyone at the club around the time of the assassination attempt.
Employees interviewed by the Post were adamant that they had followed their usual protocols, which include a strict phone and photography ban.
“It’s a firing offense to be on our phones at work, and even worse if we take pictures of President Trump. A lot of people leave their phones in their car just so they can’t possibly get in trouble for it,” an employee said.
“They’ve told us for a long time that we are putting him in danger if we text a friend to say that he’s here, even if the friends are fans of him. So I have never once done that, and I don’t think a lot of my coworkers have either.”
The golf club staff were largely isolated from one another and were not permitted to use their phones when they were interviewed.
Club directors surveyed the perimeter of the golf green on Sunday and are planning to plant more bushes and trees on the outskirts to close any gaps that could be used to look into the property, like the opening used by Routh.
Following Sunday’s scare, the club was swarming with at least 100 to 150 agents from the FBI and Secret Service, an employee said.
The club had already been busy before the assassination attempt, since Sundays are typically its best day of the week and additional high-profile members tend to come out when Trump is expected to be on the property.
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The employee estimated that there were roughly 60 other staff on the property and around 100 other visitors around the time the attempt took place.
While there are no metal detectors, security carries wands to search people who enter the grounds. Sometimes, Trump’s friends will be permitted to enter without being checked with his permission, the employee claimed.
The staff anticipates that there will be a greater emphasis placed on security at the club in the future, including new mandatory training.
“It’s not just the president who golfs here. A lot of important people are here, businesspeople and big donors. So we all have to keep our eyes open for any threats,” the employee said.
“They’re making it clear that you can be a maintenance worker or kitchen help, and you still are responsible to take security seriously. If you see something, say something. That’s going to be drilled into us, I think.”