WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—Federal prosecutors are looking to bring a charge of attempted assassination against the man accused of hiding with a gun at a golf course where former President Donald Trump was playing golf in Florida earlier this month, a Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney said in court on Sept. 23.
Prosecutor Mark Dispoto told U.S. Magistrate Judge Ryon M. McCabe at a federal courthouse in West Palm Beach that the DOJ will ask a grand jury to bring the more-serious charge, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Ryan Routh, who was arrested on Sept. 15, currently faces two federal gun charges.
McCabe granted DOJ prosecutors’ request to hold Routh. The federal judge agreed with prosecutors’ arguments that Routh posed a danger to the community, that he posed a flight risk, and that he should be kept behind bars until his trial on federal weapons charges. The judge cited Routh’s travel history to Ukraine and a handwritten note that prosecutors allege was written by Routh, declaring that he tried to assassinate Trump.
The judge said he was convinced that substantial evidence showed that Routh “stalked” Trump over the past 30 days, citing court records filed on Sept. 23 showing that Routh’s cellphone was in the vicinity of Trump’s golf course about a month before Sept. 15, the day of the apparent assassination attempt.
Routh’s two lawyers, public defenders, had asked for a $250,000 bond that would be co-signed by his sister, who the defense attorneys said is a lawyer in good standing based in North Carolina. Lawyers said Routh would agree to stay in his sister’s house, be prepared to undergo a mental health evaluation, and wear a monitoring device. Routh has three adult children who live in Hawaii.
Court documents also said that a cellphone apparently used by Routh that was analyzed by the FBI showed that Routh made a Google search of how to travel from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Mexico. Defense lawyers said that claims that he posed a flight risk were unfounded and that the Google search was only one instance.
An FBI agent brought in by prosecutors, Christian Hull, said on Sept. 23 that Routh had no ties to West Palm Beach and had no family there. His defense attorneys responded by saying that the suspect has ties to family in North Carolina.
At one point during the hearing, Routh’s lawyers highlighted a 1991 report from the Greensboro News and Record newspaper about Routh, detailing that he received a “citizen of the year” award for chasing down and fighting a suspected rapist.
Routh was charged last week with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Routh also had been arrested several times and was convicted on felony charges in 2002, prosecutors said.
Officials said that a Secret Service agent spotted Routh’s gun barrel sticking through the perimeter fence of Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, before firing approximately five shots in Routh’s direction. Routh was seen by a witness fleeing the scene in an SUV before being captured by sheriff’s deputies one county away.
Prosecutors said that the agent moved behind a tree to reload his service weapon and when he reemerged, Routh was gone.
The note cited in court papers on Sept. 23 had been placed in a box dropped off months earlier at the home of an unidentified person who did not open it until after Routh’s arrest.
The box also contained ammunition, a metal pipe, building materials, tools, phones, and various letters. The person who received the box and contacted law enforcement was not identified in the DOJ’s detention memo.
When he was arrested after fleeing the golf course, Routh had a “handwritten list of dates in August, September, and October 2024 and venues where the former President had appeared or was expected to be present,” according to the court paper.
In the Sept. 23 court appearance, Hull said that Routh apparently left a note behind at the scene of the apparent assassination attempt. No handwriting comparison has been conducted yet.
Federal officials have obtained 10 cellphones associated with Routh, Hull told the court, six of which have been analyzed.
Routh has not yet entered a formal plea on the weapons charges. His next court date is scheduled for Sept. 30.
