CNN —
The man who authorities say sat with a rifle among the trees where Donald Trump was golfing in West Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this month had previously written a letter calling “this an assassination attempt against Donald Trump,” according to new documents filed Monday by federal prosecutors.
Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, a federal magistrate judge ordered Ryan Wesley Routh to remain in custody pending further hearings.
A witness told investigators that Routh had left a box at his home several months earlier that contained “ammunition, metal pipes, various construction materials, tools, four telephones, and various letters. When the witness learned of the assassination attempt, he opened the box, according to the complaint.
The letter, addressed to “the world,” read: “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump and I have let you down. I have done my best and mustered all the courage I had. Now it is up to you to complete this mission and I am offering $150,000 to anyone who can complete this mission.”
“President Trump has acted like a child, ending our relationship with Iran and now the Middle East is in ruins,” the letter said.
Routh, 58, was charged with two counts of felon in possession of a firearm after he fled the Trump International Golf Course last week, and more serious charges may be filed in the case as the investigation continues.
“I consider the weight of the evidence against the defendant to be strong,” Judge Ryan McCabe said at the end of a roughly three-hour hearing on Monday.
The judge cited other evidence presented by the prosecution, including letters Routh allegedly wrote about the assassination attempt and the fact that his fingerprints were on tape used to attach a rifle scope found outside the golf course.
Prosecutors said a Secret Service agent shot Routh after seeing a rifle protruding from trees a few holes away from where Trump was playing golf on Sept. 15. Witnesses saw Routh flee the scene and leave in a car.
According to the criminal complaint against Routh, cellphone data indicates he may have been lying in wait at the golf course for nearly 12 hours, and he was arrested after police spotted his car traveling on a nearby highway.
Prosecutors said Routh spent several days in the area of Trump’s golf course and the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate over the course of the month before his arrest, and used one of his phones to Google directions to get from Florida to Mexico.
Rouse also had a handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump was appearing, or expected to appear, in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.
Prosecutors wrote that Routh traveled from North Carolina to West Palm Beach on Aug. 14. Cellphone data showed that Routh was near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and golf course “multiple days and multiple times” between Aug. 18 and Sept. 15, when he was arrested, prosecutors said.
During a search of Routh’s vehicle, investigators found six cell phones, including one that contained “Google searches for directions from Palm Beach County to Mexico.”
“Officers also recovered 12 pairs of gloves, a Hawaii driver’s license in the defendant’s name and a passport in the defendant’s name,” the complaint states.
Routh’s more recent resume includes a stint in Ukraine, where he tried unsuccessfully to be recruited to fight Russia, and a stint working in construction in Hawaii.
In online posts that often focus on US politics and world affairs, Rouse said she voted for Trump in 2016 but that the president had disappointed her, adding: “I’ll be happy when you’re gone.”
In his self-published book, Routh also told Iran that they would be “free to assassinate Trump.”
According to court documents, Routh’s position was “in line” with the hole immediately adjacent to the one where Trump was playing golf.
While Trump was on the fifth hole, Secret Service agents in golf carts were clearing the sixth hole area along the fence that borders the course and the main road on the other side.
While searching the scene, “investigators discovered a male’s face, partially concealed, in brush along a fence line,” prosecutors wrote.
The man was “directly in line with the green of the sixth hole,” according to the filing.
Prosecutors say that after spotting the man and realizing that his rifle was pointed at the agents, “the agents jumped off the golf cart, drew their weapons and began to back away.”
The Secret Service agent then saw the barrel of a rifle move, fired at the man, hid behind a tree and reloaded his gun, according to the complaint, and when the agent turned around, the man, whom authorities later identified as Routh, had disappeared.
“The agent radioed in to report that shots had been fired and that there was an individual with a rifle,” the prosecutor said.
Prosecutors said Routh’s rifle was equipped with a scope and an extended magazine that held more rounds of ammunition. Court documents said the rifle was loaded with 11 rounds, one of which was in the barrel and ready to fire.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
