US prosecutors have charged a man arrested near Donald Trump’s golf course in Florida with attempted assassination of a presidential candidate.
This happens a day after a court file showed Ryan Wesley Routh wrote a note a few months ago saying he intended to kill Trump.
Routh, 58, already faces up to 20 years in prison on two gun-related charges.
But he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the new, more serious charge.
“Violence targeting public officials endangers everything our country stands for,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, pledging to “use every tool available” to hold Routh accountable.
Trump accused the administration of mishandling the case, writing in a social media post Monday that the Justice Department should “LET FLORIDA HANDLE IT!”
But Garland rejected that claim, telling reporters Tuesday that his agency would “seek to cooperate and obtain assistance” from state officials “consistent with the law.”
Court documents show the case was randomly assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon.
Cannon is the South Florida judge who last year heard the Trump classified federal documents case and dismissed it earlier this year. Her decision is currently under appeal.
Another judge on Monday ordered Routh to remain in custody after prosecutors argued he posed a flight risk and a danger to the community.
The suspect has been held in a South Florida detention center since his arrest on September 15.
Earlier in the day, a Secret Service agent spotted his rifle sticking out of a fence at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
The officer opened fire as the three-time Republican presidential candidate was playing a round of golf.
Routh fled without firing a shot, leaving his gun and other items at the scene as agents escorted Trump to safety.
He was arrested shortly after, after a witness spotted him on the highway.
On Monday, new court documents revealed evidence suggesting that Routh had been planning his attack on Trump for months.
In a pre-written letter addressed to “Le Monde” and sent to an anonymous witness a few months earlier, Routh seems to anticipate a failed assassination attempt against the former president.
“I did my best and put all the courage I could muster,” the letter read, with the offer of a cash reward to anyone “who manages to finish the job.”
In addition to the charge of attempted murder, An eight-page indictment was released Tuesday He also accuses Routh of:
- possessing a firearm for the purpose of committing a violent crime;
- possessing a firearm as a felon;
- possess a firearm with an obliterated serial number;
- assault a federal agent
According to the indictment, Routh “assaulted, opposed, obstructed, intimidated and interfered” with a Secret Service special agent.
He will return to court for an arraignment hearing on Monday, September 30, where he is expected to plead guilty.
Separately, on Tuesday, his son, Oran Routh, was arrested on federal charges of receipt and possession of child pornography.
Authorities discovered “hundreds” of pornographic files during a search of Routh’s North Carolina home over the weekend as part of the investigation into his father.
Routh’s alleged plot was the second assassination attempt against Trump after Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old armed with an AR-style rifle, opened fire on the former president at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
Crooks was shot dead by counter-snipers.
