A man suspected in an apparent assassination attempt targeting former President Donald Trump was charged Monday with federal gun crimes, making his first court appearance in the final weeks of a White House race already touched by violence.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, faces charges of possessing a firearm despite a prior felony conviction and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Additional and more serious charges are possible as the investigation continues and Justice Department prosecutors seek an indictment from a grand jury.
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Routh appeared briefly in federal court in West Palm Beach, where he answered perfunctory questions about his work status and income. Shackled and wearing a blue jumpsuit, he smiled as he spoke with a public defender and reviewed documents ahead of the initial appearance. The lawyer declined to comment after the hearing ended.
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Routh was arrested Sunday afternoon after authorities spotted a firearm poking out of shrubbery on the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing. Prosecutors asked that he remain locked up as a flight risk. A federal magistrate set additional hearings for later this month.
Routh had been camped outside the golf course with food and a rifle for nearly 12 hours before a Secret Service agent confronted him and opened fire, according to court documents filed Monday.
An FBI affidavit accompanying a criminal complaint shows how law enforcement officials, during their investigation, used his cellphone information to place him at the golf course from 1:59 a.m. Sunday until about 1:31 p.m. A digital camera, a loaded rifle with scope and a plastic bag containing food was recovered from the area where Routh had positioned himself, according to the affidavit.
According to the court documents, Routh was stopped by officers about 45 minutes after he fled the golf course.
Officials said that Routh answered in the affirmative when officers asked him if he knew why he was being stopped. The vehicle was stopped at about 2:14 p.m. on northbound Interstate 95 in Martin County, which neighbors Palm Beach County.
Body camera footage released by the Martin County Sheriff's Office on Monday showed Routh being taken into custody.
When he was detained had a calm, flat demeanor and showed little emotion when he was stopped, according Martin County Sheriff William Snyder.
“He never asked, ‘What is this about?’ Obviously, law enforcement with long rifles, blue lights, a lot going on. He never questioned it,” Snyder said.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office hosted a news conference with the Secret Service and FBI Monday afternoon. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the road around the golf club would remain closed until at least Tuesday and said the security level at Mar-a-Lago was "as high as it can be."
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe confirmed that a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope was found at the course with its serial number "obliterated." He added that Routh was prohibited from possessing a firearm based on his previous convictions.
Lapointe said the federal investigation into the apparent assassination attempt remains in its “early stages.”
“Together we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure accountability,” he told reporters.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. of the U.S. Secret Service added that Routh “did not have a line of sight to the former president” and did not fire at Secret Service agents before he fled the scene.
FBI Special Agent in Charge in Miami Jeff Veltri said Routh wouldn't speak with investigators and invoked his right to an attorney.
Veltri said authorities requested search warrants seeking access to a video recording device, cell phones, a vehicle and electronics at Routh’s previous addresses.
Investigators also collected DNA that was sent to the FBI’s lab in Quantico, Virginia, and agents in the FBI’s Charlotte and Honolulu field offices are conducting interviews.
Routh was the subject of a closed investigation in 2019 when someone reported he was in possession of a firearm despite a prior felony conviction, but Veltri says the tipster would not confirm making the report.
The authorities did not immediately reveal any other details about Routh or allege a particular motive. But he left an online footprint that reveals shifting political views and intense outrage about world events.
“You are free to assassinate Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran in an apparently self-published 2023 book titled “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” which described the former president as a “fool” and “buffoon” for both the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and the “tremendous blunder” of leaving the Iran nuclear deal.
TRUMP APPARENT ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Routh wrote that he once voted for Trump and must take part of the blame for the “child that we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless.”
He also tried to recruit fighters for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, and he had a website seeking to raise money and recruit volunteers to fight for Kyiv.
Court records obtained by The Associated Press and NBC News show Routh was convicted of multiple felony offenses, including two charges of possessing stolen goods in 2002 in North Carolina.
Speaking in a soft voice in court, he said that he was working and making around $3,000 a month, but has zero savings.
Routh said that he has no real estate or assets, aside from two trucks worth about $1,000, both located in Hawaii. He also said that he has a 25-year-old son, whom he sometimes supports.
He is being represented by a public defender and is due back in court for a bond hearing next Monday, Sept. 23.
The court documents also detail the charges and possible penalties Routh could face if convicted.
The charge of a convicted felon in possession of a firearm carries a possible 15-year sentence, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
A second charge of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number carries a possible five-year prison sentence, a $250,000 fine and also three years supervised release.
Secret Service agents stationed a few holes up from where Trump was playing golf noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away.
An agent fired and Routh dropped the rifle and fled in an SUV, leaving the firearm behind along with two backpacks, an aiming scope and a GoPro camera, authorities said. Routh was later stopped by law enforcement in a neighboring county.
It was the second apparent assassination attempt targeting Trump in as many months.
On July 13, a bullet grazed Trump's ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Eight days later, Democratic President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, giving way for Vice President Kamala Harris to become the party’s nominee.
