Crime scene tape is set up in the area where law enforcement is investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida on September 17.
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Prosecutors have charged a man who reportedly camped outside Donald Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course on Sept. 15 with attempting to assassinate a leading figure in the presidential candidate.
According to the indictment, the case will be presided over by federal judge Eileen Cannon, the same Florida judge who presided over the Trump documents case. Federal judges are assigned to cases at random.
Ryan Routh had been “stalking” Trump for more than a month in Florida, prosecutors told a federal magistrate judge on Monday. Cellphone data showed Routh was at Trump’s golf course and Mar-a-Lago estate between Aug. 18 and his arrest.
As the investigation continued, Routh was initially charged with two firearm-related offenses, including obliterating the serial number of a firearm and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. Additional charges against Routh include possession of a firearm with intent to facilitate a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer.
According to the indictment, Routh “forcibly assaulted, opposed, obstructed, threatened or interfered with ‘Secret Service Special Agent No. 1,’ an officer and employee of the United States.”
He is scheduled to be arraigned next Monday.
After detaining Routh, investigators found handwritten notes listing venues and locations Trump had visited or planned to visit in the months leading up to the 2024 election, prosecutors said.
“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump and I have failed you,” Routh allegedly wrote months before his arrest, according to a letter submitted by a witness.
Prosecutors said the letter was found in a box that a witness said Routh left at his home, but the witness told investigators she didn’t open the box until she heard about the incident at Trump’s golf course.
