Man charged with attempted assassination of Trump pleads not guilty to federal charges

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A man who authorities say camped outside Donald Trump’s golf course for 12 hours before the Secret Service spotted him with a rifle pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges including attempted assassination guilty.

Ryan Wesley Routh appeared briefly in federal court in West Palm Beach, just days after a grand jury issued a five-count indictment in the second assassination attempt on Trump since July.

Routh entered the courtroom handcuffed in a brown jumpsuit and waved to reporters who had gathered to watch the proceedings. His lawyers declined to comment after the hearing.

The assassination attempt was foiled when a member of his Secret Service protective detail spotted Routh’s gun barrel sticking through the fence line of the golf course in front of where Trump was playing, authorities say. The agent fired in the direction of Routh, who sped away and was arrested in a neighboring county.

Officials said Routh fired no shots and was not in his line of sight. He left behind a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS rifle with a scope and a plastic bag containing groceries.

Prosecutors said he wrote down his plans to kill Trump in a handwritten note months before his Sept. 15 arrest, calling his actions a failed “assassination attempt on Donald Trump” and offering $150,000 to anyone who would The job could be “finished.” This note was in a box that Routh had apparently left at the home of an unknown witness months before his arrest.

Monday’s hearing took place before a magistrate judge. However, the rest of the proceedings will be overseen by US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump and was also assigned to the criminal case in which the former president is accused of illegally hiding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate to have hoarded.

Cannon’s handling of Trump’s criminal case came under intense scrutiny, which she dismissed in July – a decision that special counsel Jack Smith’s team is now appealing.

Routh’s arrest came two months after Trump was shot and injured in the ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has acknowledged failings leading up to this shooting but said security forces functioned properly to thwart a possible attack in Florida.

Routh was initially charged only with weapons offenses in a criminal complaint before prosecutors pursued additional charges before a grand jury. Prosecutors often quickly file initial, easily verifiable charges and add more serious charges later as the investigation progresses.

Other charges he faces include illegally possessing his gun despite multiple felony convictions, including two counts of possession of stolen goods in 2002 in North Carolina. He is also accused of possessing a firearm whose serial number was obliterated and unreadable to the naked eye, a violation of federal law.

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Richer reported from Washington.

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