President Trump has finally addressed the incident involving a gun-toting intruder who was fatally shot by Secret Service agents after attempting to breach the grounds of Mar-a-Lago early Sunday. The intruder, identified as 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin from Cameron, North Carolina, was reportedly armed with a gun and carrying a gas can when he breached the property.
During his remarks at the White House on Monday, Trump made light of his situation, referencing his survival of two assassination attempts in 2024. With a hint of humor, he suggested that perhaps he should aim to be “a little bit less consequential” to avoid drawing such attention from would-be attackers.
“You read about all these crazy shooters, but they only go after consequential presidents,” Trump remarked during the Angel Families event. “They don’t go after non-consequential presidents,” he added, eliciting a wave of polite laughter from the audience.
He further emphasized his point by referencing historical figures like Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, both of whom were tragically assassinated. “They were consequential,” Trump noted, before humorously reconsidering his own status: “So maybe I want to be a little bit less consequential.”
Citing Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, Trump reiterated: “They were consequential,” adding: “They only go after consequential. So maybe I want to be a little bit less consequential.”
The audience chuckled politely in response.
Trump was not a Mar-a-Lago at the time of the incident. On Saturday night, he and first lady Melania hosted a dinner with governors at the White House.
But the president sounded philosophical on Monday as he spoke to the families who lost a loved one to a crime committed by an illegal migrant, noting his own mortality.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be around,” he told his audience in the White House East Room.
“Got a lot of people gunning for me, don’t I?”
He praised the angel families as the “bravest people” and said they gave him a warm feeling.
“This is a group of people that, for whatever reason, I just feel, maybe the warmest of them,” he said.
The intruder, Martin, was discovered on the grounds of Mar-a-Lago about 1:30 am on Sunday morning, carrying a rifle and a gas can.
He was “ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with them,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters during a press conference Sunday.
“At which time he put down the gas can, and raised the shotgun to a shooting position.”
The agents guarding the president’s Palm Beach home opened fire and “neutralized the threat.”
The incident at Mar-a-Lago took place just a few miles from Trump’s West Palm Beach club, where Ryan Routh tried to assassinate the president while he played golf during the 2024 election.
Routh was spotted by Secret Service agents and stopped before he could carry out his threat. He was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month.
Trump survived an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024. Gunman Thomas Crooks fired eight shots, grazing the president’s ear and killing an attendee before he was taken out by a Secret Service counter sniper.
