WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. –
A man who authorities say spent 12 hours camped outside Donald Trump’s golf course before Secret Service spotted him with a rifle pleaded not guilty on Monday to federal charges including attempted assassination.
Ryan Wesley Routh appeared briefly in the federal court in West Palm Beach days after a grand jury handed down a five-count indictment stemming from the second attempt on Trump’s life since July.
Routh entered the courtroom handcuffed in a tan jumpsuit and waved his hands at reporters gathered to watch the proceedings. His lawyers declined to comment after the hearing.
The assassination attempt was thwarted when a member of his Secret Service protective detail spotted Routh’s rifle barrel protruding through the golf course fence line, ahead of where Trump was playing, authorities say. The agent fired in the direction of Routh, who sped away and was arrested in a neighbouring county.
Routh did not fire any rounds and did not have Trump in his line of sight, officials have said. He left behind a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a plastic bag containing food.
Prosecutors have said 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 US$150,000 for anyone who could “finish the job.” That note was in a box that Routh had apparently dropped off at the home of an unidentified witness months before his arrest.
Monday’s hearing was held before a magistrate judge. But further proceedings will be overseen by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump and was also assigned to the criminal case accusing the former president of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Cannon generated intense scrutiny for her handling of Trump’s criminal case, which she dismissed in July — a decision now being appealed by special counsel Jack Smith’s team.
Routh’s arrest came two months after Trump was shot and wounded in the ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has acknowledged failings leading up to that shooting but has said that security worked as it should have to thwart a potential attack in Florida.
Routh was initially charged in a criminal complaint only with gun offenses before prosecutors pursued additional charges before a grand jury. Prosecutors will often quickly bring the first easily provable charges they can and then add more serious charges later as the investigation unfolds.
Other charges he faces include illegally possessing his gun in spite of multiple felony convictions, including two charges of possessing stolen goods in 2002 in North Carolina. He’s also accused of having a weapon with a serial number that was obliterated and unreadable to the naked eye, in violation of federal law.
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Richer reported from Washington.