CNN’s Juliette Kayyem lamented the possibility that former President Donald Trump could benefit politically after a second assassination attempt over the weekend, calling the situation a “problem” and “unfortunate.”

Authorities arrested 58-year-old Ryan Routh — a Democrat donor with a criminal history — after Secret Service noticed his AK-47-style rifle as he hid in shrubbery only a few hundred yards away from Trump at Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach. When he was engaged by federal law enforcement officials, he ran and got into a car and drove off. A witness captured a photo of the car and the license plate, allowing police to quickly locate and arrest him.

“And I really don’t care what you feel about him, or Harris,” she said on the network late on Sunday. “I mean, this is, this is the expectation that he will be safe.”

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Kayyem continued: “And the reason why this is, you know, in some ways, you know, you said how close the election is, the problem is this is a safety issue that is being thrown into a very intense political environment in which the very fact of an assassination, a constitutional moment, because it’s, it could have impacted voters, will be used for political purposes.”

“And that, to me, is, is just as not as a, you know, exceptionally unfortunate, because whatever your beliefs are, we do deserve to have campaigns that are not part that where violence isn’t being used as either a sword or a shield,” she added.

WATCH:

CNN’s Juliette Kayyem laments this second Trump assassination attempt “could have impacted voters” and “will be used for political purposes” and that’s “exceptionally unfortunate” pic.twitter.com/ymJKE3VbUZ

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 16, 2024