‘Bomb’ found at Trump rally site – reports

An explosive device has reportedly been found in a car inside the security perimeter of US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s upcoming rally in New York state.

The Republican presidential nominee is scheduled to speak at the Long Island venue, just east of New York City, on Wednesday evening.

Sources in the Nassau County Police Department just told me that "the perimeter was breached and a blue barrel was removed’ from the area surrounding tonight’s Trump rally site,” journalist James Lalino wrote on X.

According to Lalino’s source, a police dog “found an explosive device in one of the vehicles and that the driver ended up running into the woods. No one saw if he had anything on him, they just saw him take off running.”

Nassau County Police have not officially commented on the report. They told the Daily Mail they were “working on an email” about the alleged security incident.

Thousands of Republican supporters have already queued up outside the Nassau Coliseum, where Trump is due to speak at 7pm local time. Some had reportedly camped outside overnight, to get good seats inside the arena.

Trump has moved his rallies to indoor venues after surviving an assassination attempt at a July 13 outdoor gathering in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooter fired at least eight times, nicking Trump’s ear, killing one audience member and seriously injuring two more, before he was killed by a Secret Service sniper.

The alleged bomb report comes just three days after the Secret Service intercepted a would-be assassin at Trump’s golf resort in Florida. Identified as Ryan Routh, the suspect fled the scene, leaving a long rifle with a scope behind, before being caught and arrested.

Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance have blamed the Democrats’ incendiary rhetoric for the repeated attempts on the Republican candidate’s life. Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s rival for the presidency in the November election, have called the former president a “threat to our democracy.”