A man suspected of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump has been charged with two federal weapons offenses after being found with a rifle hidden in bushes at the former US president's golf course in Florida. Reuters reported.
According to a criminal complaint filed Monday, phone records indicate the suspect may have been waiting for nearly 12 hours, equipped with a rifle and supplies.
While additional charges are anticipated, the current charges (being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number) allow authorities to detain him while the investigation progresses.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee in the Nov. 5 election, was unharmed, but the incident raised new questions about how an armed suspect could get so close to him, just two months after another gunman shot him during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing his ear with a bullet.
The U.S. Secret Service opened fire after an agent spotted the barrel of a rifle sticking out of bushes Sunday at Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, a few hundred yards from where the former president was playing.
The gunman fled in a sport utility vehicle, according to the complaint. Officers found a loaded assault rifle with a scope, a digital camera and a plastic bag of food.
A suspect, identified Monday as Ryan Routh, 58, was arrested about 40 minutes later while driving north on Interstate 95. When asked if he knew why he had been stopped, Routh “responded affirmatively,” according to the complaint. His vehicle's license plate had been reported stolen from another car.
Records show a phone associated with Routh was located on the golf course beginning at 1:59 a.m. Sunday morning, 11 1/2 hours before the incident.
Routh has at least two prior felony convictions, both in North Carolina, according to the criminal complaint.
In 2002, Routh pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered automatic weapon, defined under North Carolina law as a weapon of mass destruction, according to the county district attorney's office, and was sentenced to probation. He was also convicted of possession of stolen property in 2010.
According to a source familiar with the matter, Trump's campaign schedule will remain unchanged. On Monday evening, the president is scheduled to unveil a new cryptocurrency venture on X, and on Tuesday he will hold a public forum in Michigan and a rally on Wednesday in New York.
Trump blamed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democratic presidential nominee, for the apparent assassination attempt. He claimed the alleged gunman acted on Democrats' “highly inflammatory language,” though authorities have yet to offer evidence of any motive.
“Their rhetoric is getting me shot, when I'm the one who's going to save the country, and they're the ones destroying the country, both from within and without,” he said, according to Fox.
On Sunday, Harris said on X: “Violence has no place in America.”
Speaking at an event in Philadelphia on Monday, Biden said: “In America, we resolve our differences peacefully at the ballot box, not at gunpoint.”
Local and federal officials were expected to provide updates at a news conference at 4 p.m.
The secret service under pressure
The Secret Service, which protects US presidents, presidential candidates and other high-level dignitaries, has been under intense scrutiny since the previous assassination attempt on Trump.
That led to the resignation of director Kimberly Cheatle. The service beefed up Trump's security detail after the July 13 attack, in which the gunman was shot dead by responding officers.
The agency “needs more help,” including possibly more staff, Biden told reporters Monday, adding: “Thank God the president is on board.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who convened a bipartisan task force to investigate the first assassination attempt, said in an interview with Fox News that Congress would also look into the latest incident.
“We need accountability,” said Johnson, who also called for more resources to protect Trump.
Cheatle's replacement, acting director Ronald Rowe, traveled to Florida after Sunday's assassination attempt, according to multiple media outlets. Rowe, who took over after Cheatle resigned in July, told Congress on July 30 that he was “embarrassed” by security lapses in the earlier attack.
Rowe has worked for the 7,800-member Secret Service for 25 years, according to an official biography, rising to the agency's No. 2 position before being promoted in July.
The suspect is a Ukrainian sympathizer
Routh is a staunch supporter of Ukraine and traveled there after the 2022 Russian invasion, seeking to recruit foreign fighters. Ukrainian officials distanced themselves from Routh on Monday, and the International Legion, where many foreign fighters serve in Ukraine, said it had no ties to Routh.
Profiles on X, Facebook and LinkedIn under Routh's name contained messages of support for Ukraine, as well as statements describing Trump as a threat to American democracy.
“@POTUS His campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. The Trumps should be MASS…make Americans masters and slaves again. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we can't lose,” read one post on X, tagging Biden.
Reuters could not confirm that the accounts belonged to the suspect. Public access to the Facebook and X profiles was removed hours after the incident on Sunday.
Harris and other Democrats have called Trump a danger to American democracy, citing his effort to overturn his 2020 election loss, which led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Harris has pledged unwavering support for Ukraine if elected.
Trump has expressed skepticism about the amount of aid the United States has provided to Ukraine and has vowed to end the war immediately if elected. He told Reuters last year that Ukraine might have to give up some territory to achieve peace.
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, posted and then deleted a message on the social media site on Sunday in which he questioned why no one had tried to assassinate Biden or Harris. In a subsequent post on Monday, Musk, who has backed Trump, said he had been joking.
