The FBI said former President Donald Trump was the target of “what appears to be an attempted assassination” at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, just nine weeks after the Republican presidential nominee survived another attempt on his life. The suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, was charged Monday with federal gun crimes.
The gunman who lay in wait as former president Donald Trump made the rounds of his golf course Sunday is being held without bond on federal firearms charges, but a former federal prosecutor tells NBC6 more serious charges are likely coming.
What those charges are depends on evidence the feds may collect from Ryan Wesley Routh, his phone, his digital camera and anything else they can connect to him as they say they are retracing his steps and contacts for months or years.
Watch NBC6 free wherever you are
His first appearance Monday in federal court in West Palm Beach is just the first step in a process that could put the 58-year-old convicted felony away for decades.
For now, Routh is only charged with possessing an SKS semi-automatic rifle with an obliterated serial number and possessing it as a convicted felon.
Get local news you need to know to start your day with NBC 6's News Headlines newsletter.
“They needed some sort of immediate charge as a placeholder to keep this individual in jail, in custody, while they figured out exactly how much evidence they had, circumstantial or otherwise, to put a full set of charges in front of the grand jurors,” said former assistant US attorney David Weinstein.
He faces up to 15 years in prison on the charge of firearm possession by a felon, with prosecutors citing two prior convictions in North Carolina: in 2002 for possession of a fully automatic machine gun, which is illegal without a license; and in 2010 for possession of stolen goods.
But Weinstein expects more to come.
“Well, he's certainly looking at a crime that makes it unlawful for an individual to threaten or attempt to threaten someone who is either a former president, who is being protected by Secret Service, or a candidate who's running for office,” Weinstein said.
And if the government is able to prove that he brandished the rifle he left behind in the bushes to that threat – as seems likely – the government could seek a firearms enhancement that would produce an additional 7-year minimum mandatory sentence, Weinstein said.*
As for evidence of what he intended, consider he could have been secreted in the bushes as close as 800 feet from where Trump would be putting on the fifth green of his golf course.
A virtual tour of the sixth hole on Trump International Golf Club’s website provides a bird’s-eye view of where the former president would be headed next -- directly toward Routh’s sniper nest in the bushes.
Routh’s criminal complaint states his cellphone placed him in the area of the golf course for nearly 12 hours before he was spotted and fled Secret Service gunfire north into Martin County, where deputies took him into custody.
Depending on how many cell towers were nearby, his exact location over that time is hard to determine.
“It can't put you pinpointed at a specific location within feet,” Weinstein said. “It can put you in a general area. And so they will then have circumstantial evidence that he was in that particular general area based on the triangulation of the cell phone towers.”
That and what was found in the bushes – the rifle with scope bookended by two backpacks containing anti-ballistic ceramic plates – could be enough to support more charges, including assaulting the Secret Service agent who spotted the rifle barrel pointed his way and the former president himself, who was still playing the fifth hole.
“That's something they're going to have to hash out based on witness testimony, any other surveillance cameras that might have been in the area to determine whether or not that's an additional charge they're going to tack on as well,” Weinstein said.
As for Routh, who’s faced dozens of criminal charges in North Carolina, where he lived before moving to Hawaii sometime before 2020, his social media posts show early support but then disappointment with Trump.
He also gave interviews in Ukraine, where he traveled in 2022 and sought to fight against the Russian invaders.
In an interview with Newsweek Romania, he said, “Everybody should be here supporting the army. But I’m 56, so initially they’re, like, well I have no military experience and so they’re, like, you’re not an ideal candidate.”
He went on to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“It seems asinine we have a leader in a country that does not understand the concept of being unselfish and being generous and being kind and just basic moral values that are required by human beings these days,” he said of Putin.
Routh’s next court date is scheduled for Sept. 23 when, if he challenges his detention, the government will present evidence and argue why he should remain in custody.
At some point, Weinstein said, expect a grand jury indictment to bring the most serious charges the government can muster.
**Editor's note: An earlier version of this story published September 16th quoted Weinstein saying use of a firearm in the crime could result in a 30-year minimum mandatory sentence, but he clarified September 17th that applies to automatic weapons. A semi-automatic rifle, like the one recovered Sunday, would produce a 7-year minimum mandatory sentence, Weinstein said.
