Agencies
WEST PALM BEACH
A man suspected in an apparent assassination attempt targeting former President Donald Trump was charged on 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.
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.
Routh was arrested on 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.
The authorities did not immediately reveal any new 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.
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 Kiev.
Court records obtained by The Associated Press 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.
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 neighbouring county.