west palm beach, florida
CNN
—
A man who prosecutors allege stalked Donald Trump in Florida for a month and then set up a so-called “sniper’s nest” in a fence at the former president’s West Palm Beach golf course has been targeted by a leading president. He pleaded not guilty to the attempted assassination charge. candidate.
Ryan Wesley Routh is charged with five charges, including attempted assassination, weapons charges and assault on a police officer. He pleaded not guilty to each charge in federal court.
Routh appeared wearing tan prison scrubs and at times wore glasses during the brief hearing. He told the judge he understood the charges against him.
Prosecutors said Routh armed himself with a Soviet-made rifle sandwiched between two bags stuffed with bulletproof plates and shot Trump on the sixth hole that Sunday afternoon while he was playing golf. He claims that he shot the green clearly.
At a detention hearing last week, prosecutors claimed the former president was minutes away from Routh’s line of sight.
Routh was reportedly discovered by Secret Service agents who were conducting surveillance ahead of President Trump. When the officer saw the barrel of his rifle move, he fired, then ducked behind a tree and reloaded. Routh allegedly fled the area in a car and was arrested by local police less than an hour later on a nearby highway.
Unlike Thomas Matthew Crooks, who shot and killed President Trump during a campaign rally in July, investigators found a wealth of information about Routh and what could have been a motive for the assassination attempt.
One piece of information cited by prosecutors is a letter Routh allegedly left with a witness who came forward after he was arrested.
Routh allegedly wrote, “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, and it failed.” “We gave it our all, we gave it our all. It’s up to you to finish the job. And we’re offering $150,000 to anyone who can complete the job.”
The letter states that President Trump “childishly ended relations with Iran and now the Middle East is broken.”
Routh also wrote a self-published book in which he told Iran that he was “free to assassinate not just me, but also Mr. Trump, for misjudgment and for abandoning the Iran nuclear deal.” .
In arguing for detention pending the outcome of the case, prosecutors said Routh had been arrested more than 100 times, many for traffic violations, and had not traveled to Ukraine and Taiwan. He said it shows he can slip through and cross. border.
Routh’s case follows the dismissal of criminal misrepresentation charges against Trump earlier this year after his lawyers argued that special counsel Jack Smith was illegally appointed to oversee the investigation and prosecution of Trump. Judge Eileen Cannon, a federal judge, was randomly assigned.