For ads-free news, click here.
From the Associated Press: A man who authorities say staked out Donald Trump for 12 hours on his golf course in Florida and wrote of his desire to kill him was indicted Tuesday on charges that he attempted to assassinate a major presidential candidate.
Ryan Wesley Routh had been initially charged with two federal firearms offenses. The upgraded charges reflect the Justice Department’s assessment that he methodically plotted to kill the Republican nominee, aiming a rifle through the shrubbery surrounding Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course on an afternoon Trump was playing on it. Routh left behind a note in which he described his intention.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who in July dismissed a separate criminal case charging Trump with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The indictment had been foreshadowed during a court hearing Monday in which prosecutors successfully argued for the 58-year-old Routh to remain behind bars as a flight risk and a threat to public safety.
They alleged that he had written of his plans to kill Trump in a handwritten note months before his Sept. 15 arrest in which he referred to his actions as a failed “assassination attempt on Donald Trump” and offered $150,000 for anyone who could “finish the job.” Prosecutors also said that he kept in his car a handwritten list of venues in August, September and October at which Trump had appeared or was expected to be present.
Although Routh did not actually fire at Trump or have him in his line of sight, he did have a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope, a digital camera, a backpack, and a plastic bag containing food with him as he was hiding in the bushes of the fence line, just one hole ahead of where Trump was playing golf.
A Secret Service agent on Trump’s security team just happened to see Routh’s partially abscured face and a rifle barrel poking through the golf course fence line. The agent fired in the direction of Routh, who fled the scene and sped away in his vehicle.
A witness reportedly saw Routh fleeing and followed him, taking a picture of his license plate, which she sent to police. This resulted in him being captured in a neighboring county just hours later.
When investigators searched Routh’s car, they reportedly found six cellphones, including one that showed a Google search of how to travel from Palm Beach County to Mexico.
BREAKING: Man who staked out Trump at Florida golf course charged with attempting an assassination https://t.co/ia9GA666DX
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 24, 2024
🚨 #BREAKING: Judge Eileen Cannon will be presiding over the case again would-be Trump ass*ssin Ryan Routh
This is MASSIVE news! We might actually see justice here!
Judge Cannon is the same judge who dropped the BS Jack Smith “classified documents” case against President Trump… pic.twitter.com/jpDf1TlpW8
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 24, 2024
BREAKING: Ryan Wesley Routh officially charged with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate pic.twitter.com/viFE0TfSVX
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) September 24, 2024
The Dennis Michael Lynch Podcast archive is available below, with the most recent on top. Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the show by downloading The DML News App or go to Apple Podcasts.
