Monday, October 7
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Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes


This screengrab taken from AFPTV on September 16, 2024 shows Ryan Wesley Routh speaking during an interview at a rally to urge foreign leaders and international organisations to help provide humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians and Ukrainian servicemen from Mariupol in central Kyiv on April 27, 2022, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. US media said it was Routh, 58, who was arrested after US Secret Service agents "opened fire on a gunman" carrying an AK-47 style rifle near the boundary of Donald Trump's Florida golf course where the former president was golfing on September 15, 2024. (Photo by AFPTV / AFP)

Ryan Routh has been charged with two gun-related crimes
Photo:

By Gram Slattery and Sarah N. Lynch, Reuters

A man suspected of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump was charged with two gun-related crimes in federal court, a day after being spotted with a rifle hiding in the bushes at the former US president’s golf course in Florida.

More charges appear likely, but the initial counts – possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number – will allow authorities to keep him in custody as the investigation continues.

The Republican presidential candidate in the 5 November election was unharmed. But the incident raised fresh questions about how an armed suspect was able to get so close to him, just two months after another gunman fired at Trump during a 13 July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing his ear with a bullet.

Phone records suggest the suspect may have been lying in wait for nearly 12 hours on Sunday, according to a criminal complaint.

The US Secret Service opened fire after an agent saw a rifle barrel poking out of the bushes on Sunday at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, a few hundred yards away from where the former president was playing.

The gunman fled in a sports utility vehicle, according to the complaint. Officers found a loaded assault-style rifle with a scope, a digital camera and a plastic bag of food left behind.

A suspect, identified on Monday as Ryan Routh, 58, was arrested about 40 minutes later driving north on Interstate 95. When asked if he knew why he had been stopped, Routh “responded in the affirmative,” according to the complaint. The license plate on his vehicle had been reported stolen from another car.

Records show a phone associated with Routh was located at the golf course starting at 1.59 am local time on Sunday morning.

Routh has two prior convictions, both in North Carolina, according to the criminal complaint: a 2002 conviction for possession of a weapon of mass death and destruction and a 2010 conviction for possession of stolen goods. Further details about those cases were not immediately available.

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 15: Law enforcement secures the area around Trump International Golf Club after an apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on September 15, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. The FBI and U.S. Secret Service, along with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office, are investigating the incident, which the FBI said "appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump' while he was golfing at Trump International Golf Club.   Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Law enforcement secures the area around Trump International Golf Club after the apparent assassination attempt.
Photo: AFP / Joe Raedle

Trump blamed President Joe Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris for the assassination attempt. He cited their “rhetoric” and claimed the suspected gunman was acting on Democrats’ “highly inflammatory language,” though authorities have not yet offered evidence of any motive.

“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country – both from the inside and out,” he said, according to Fox.

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 earlier attempt on Trump’s life.

That led to the resignation of Director Kimberly Cheatle. The service bolstered Trump’s security detail following the 13 July attack, in which the gunman was shot dead by responding agents.

The agency “needs more help,” including possibly more personnel, Biden told reporters on Monday, adding: “Thank God the president’s OK.”

Harris said on X: “Violence has no place in America.”

House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, who convened a bipartisan task force to investigate after the first assassination attempt, said in a Fox News interview that Congress would also examine the latest incident.

“We need accountability,” said Johnson who also called for more resources to protect Trump. “We must demand that this job is being done.”

Ryan Wesley Routh filmed during an interview with Newsweek Romania in 2022, at age 56.

Photo: Youtube / Newsweek Romania

Cheatle’s replacement, Acting Director Ronald Rowe, travelled to Florida after Sunday’s assassination attempt, according to several news outlets. Rowe, who took over after Cheatle’s resignation in July, told Congress on 30 July he was “ashamed” of security lapses in the earlier attack.

Rowe has been with the 7800-member Secret Service for 25 years, according to an official biography, rising to the agency’s No. 2 spot before he was promoted in July.

Suspect in Ukraine sympathiser

Routh was a staunch supporter of Ukraine and had travelled there after Russia’s 2022 invasion, seeking to recruit foreign fighters.

Profiles on X, Facebook and LinkedIn with Routh’s name contained messages of support for Ukraine as well as statements describing Trump as a threat to US democracy.

“@POTUS Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA …make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose,” read a post on X, tagging Biden.

Reuters was not able to confirm that the accounts belonged to the suspect, and law enforcement agencies declined to comment. Public access to the Facebook and X profiles was removed hours after Sunday’s incident.

Harris and other Democrats have cast Trump as a danger to US democracy, citing his effort to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, which led to the 6 January, 2021, assault on the US Capitol. Harris has promised unwavering support for Ukraine if elected.

Trump has expressed scepticism about the amount of aid the US has provided Ukraine and has vowed to end the war immediately if elected. He told Reuters last year that Ukraine might have to cede some territory to gain peace.

Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, posted and then deleted a message on the social media site on Sunday wondering why no one had tried to assassinate Biden or Harris. In a follow-up post on Monday, Musk, who has endorsed Trump, said he had been joking.

– Reuters



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