Federal prosecutors will charge a man who allegedly lurked with a gun near where former President Donald Trump was golfing in Florida last week with attempted assassination, they said at a court hearing on Monday, adding that among their evidence were notes written by the suspect that suggested he was planning an attack.
Prosecutors have said they will pursue the charges through a grand jury indictment, which could carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Ryan M. McCabe in the U.S. District Court for the District of West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday granted the government’s request to hold Ryan W. Routh without bail. Routh has previously been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Mr Routh’s defence team argued their client was not a flight risk and did not pose a serious threat to the community, but Judge McCabe disagreed.
Prosecutors said in court documents and at a hearing Monday that Routh, 58, had been scouting the grounds of Trump International Golf Club a month before the assassination attempt. On Sept. 15, Routh was positioned outside a fence near the course’s sixth hole, and around 1:30 p.m., a Secret Service agent spying one hole ahead of the former president’s group spotted Routh and a gun.
Prosecutors say Routh was directly above the sixth hole at the time of the sighting and intended to shoot Trump at relatively close range with a semi-automatic rifle. The scoped rifle was left at the scene. There was one bullet in the chamber and 11 rounds in total. Investigators found Routh’s fingerprints on the gun.
“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I’ve let you down,” Routh wrote in a note he left in a box at a friend’s house, according to prosecutors. “I tried my best and mustered all the courage I had,” the note continued, “Now it’s up to you to get the job done. I’m offering $150,000 to whoever gets the job done.” Investigators found the note after Routh’s arrest.
Prosecutors said Routh also wrote in the memo that Trump was unfit to be president. He left the note in his home months before the shooting and it showed he had been planning the assassination for a long time.
Last week, Routh was indicted on charges of possessing a firearm as a felon, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Prosecutors disclosed the new information in a memo they wrote to convince a federal judge to hold Rouse indefinitely while he awaits trial. The document paints the clearest picture yet of an impoverished, nomadic building contractor who repeatedly said he was willing to risk his life to defend Ukraine.
According to the prosecutors’ memo, law enforcement officials searched Routh’s Nissan SUV and found “handwritten lists of dates in August, September and October 2024 and venues where the former president had appeared or was expected to appear.”
Investigators also found six cellphones containing Google searches for directions from Palm Beach County to Mexico, 12 pairs of gloves, a Hawaii driver’s license in Rouse’s name, and a passport.
In their memo, prosecutors also noted Routh’s extensive criminal history, saying he had been convicted multiple times for possession of stolen property.
In 2002, he was charged in North Carolina with felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction. Court documents described the weapon as a “binary explosive with a 10-inch detonator and explosive cap.” He was convicted and given 60 months probation.
