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Ryan Routh charged with trying to kill a presidential candidate

2024-09-25 08:24:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Ryan Routh

Ryan Routh, 58, who authorities say waited 12 hours for Donald Trump by his golf club and wrote in a letter wanting to kill him, was charged Tuesday with trying to kill a presidential candidate.

Ryan Routh faces two more charges of illegal possession of weapons.

The charges reflect the Justice Department's assessment that he plotted to kill the Republican nominee while pointing a semi-automatic weapon at the golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, where Mr. Trump was playing, on September 15.

He wrote a letter outlining his intentions.

The case has been assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, who in July dismissed a lawsuit against the former president accusing him of taking classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

The indictment was announced during a hearing on Monday, in which prosecutors argued that the 58-year-old should remain behind bars as he posed a risk to public safety.

They said the suspect had left a letter several months before he was arrested on September 15, which was based on the hypothesis that the attempt to kill the former President would fail and that he offered $150,000 to anyone "who would finish this work".

Prosecutors said he kept a list of dates throughout August, September and October and places where Mr. Trump had been or was expected to go.

The opportunity to shoot the former President was thwarted by a Secret Service agent who spotted the suspect's gun in the bushes on the golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, where Mr. Trump was playing.

The agent fired at the suspect, who sped away but was later detained by authorities in a nearby area.

The Secret Service has stated that the suspect did not shoot and in no case managed to get a direct view of the former President, but he left behind a digital camera, a backpack, a semi-automatic weapon loaded with ammunition (SKS) and a plastic bag of food.

His arrest came two months after former President Trump was shot and wounded in the ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has acknowledged the failures that affected the event, but has said that security measures were adequate to prevent a possible attack in Florida.

Initially, charges were brought against the 58-year-old for illegal possession of weapons and erasing the identification number of the weapon. It is common for prosecutors to file preliminary, lighter charges and then add more serious charges as investigations continue.

Authorities said they found six phones in the suspect's car, including one that showed he had Googled directions to travel from the Palm Beach area to Mexico.

Also, a notepad containing criticisms of the Russian and Chinese governments and notes on the steps to be followed to become part of the war in defense of Ukraine was found.

A book written by the 58-year-old last year in which he sharply criticized Mr Trump's approach to foreign policy, including Ukraine, was also cited at Monday's hearing. In the book, he wrote that Iran "was free to kill Trump" since the latter had withdrawn from the nuclear agreement./ VOA