Man charged with attempted assassination of Trump at Florida golf course as case is assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon
By Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand, CNN
(CNN) — Prosecutors on Tuesday filed the charge of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate against Ryan Wesley Routh, the man they say camped outside of Donald Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course for hours on end, armed with a rifle that he pointed through a chain-link fence with a clear shot to the next hole where the former president was headed on September 15.
Routh, allegedly “stalked” Trump in Florida for more than a month, prosecutors told a federal magistrate judge on Monday, with cell phone data allegedly placing Routh at the golf course as well as Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence across several days between August 18 and the day Routh was arrested.
Routh was originally charged with two gun-related offenses, including obliteration of a firearm’s serial number and possessing a firearm while a convicted felon, while the investigation continued.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who oversaw, and later threw out, the federal criminal classified documents case against the former president, was randomly assigned to oversee the case, court documents show.
The charges against Routh also include possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and assaulting a federal officer, in addition to the two previous gun charges Routh faced.
According to the indictment, Routh “did forcibly assault, oppose, impede, intimidate, and interfere with ‘Secret Service Special Agent #1,’ an officer and employee of the United States.”
Routh is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.
“The attempted assassination on the former president is a heinous act,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference announcing an antitrust lawsuit against Visa. “I am grateful that he is safe, and as I said immediately after the event, the Justice Department will spare no resource to ensure accountability.”
Garland noted that “in the last few days,” information about the alleged assassination attempt was uncovered by investigators and put in the court record for his detention hearing.
The attorney general also responded to a statement Trump posted Monday evening accusing the federal government of mishandling the assassination attempt investigation and saying that the Justice Department should “LET FLORIDA HANDLE THE CASE!”
Garland said that the Justice Department will “seek to cooperate and get assistance from” Florida state officials “consistent with the law.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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