Ryan Wesley Routh, the man arrested on suspicion of allegedly trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump while he was golfing, has been charged with two federal crimes, according to the Associated Press.
During an eight-minute hearing, prosecutors filed two charges against him: possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Authorities say Routh faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the first charge, and a possible five-year sentence for the second.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe will remain in Florida “indefinitely” until the investigation into the possible assassination attempt the day before against the former president and Republican candidate is concluded.
In an interview with CNN, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Rowe was scheduled to meet with Trump on Monday, as well as with local law enforcement officers who were involved in Sunday’s arrest of a man who was armed with an AK-47 with a telescopic sight next to the course where the presidential candidate was playing. Rowe will also visit the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the incident took place.
In a message posted this morning on Truth Social, Trump thanked citizens for their concern and good wishes, as well as the United States Secret Service, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and his office in Palm Beach, Florida.
“And to all law enforcement, for the incredible work you did today at Trump International to keep me safe, as the 45th President of the United States and the Republican nominee for the next presidential election. The work you did was absolutely outstanding,” Trump said.
In an interview with Fox News, Sheriff Bradshaw said the person arrested in what is being investigated as attempted murder “did not fire a shot” because “the U.S. Secret Service agent acted very quickly.”
“The system worked,” “it’s not like what happened in Butler,” Bradshaw said, referring to the assassination attempt on the former president in July at a rally in Pennsylvania, during which he was shot in the ear.
Speaking to the media before boarding the presidential helicopter, US President Joe Biden called on Congress to take steps to provide more funding to the Secret Service.
“One thing I want to make clear: The Secret Service needs more help, and Congress should address that need,” he said. “Thank God the president is doing well,” he added.
This Monday, a photograph was released of the moment Ryan Routh, a 58-year-old man who once supported Trump but eventually called him an “idiot” and a “buffoon,” was arrested. He was obsessed with Ukraine, Taiwan, North Korea and what he called the “end of humanity,” CNN says.
He traveled to kyiv after the Russian invasion to take part in protests and expressed his ideas in a self-published book.
Authorities suspect Routh, who owns a small construction company in Hawaii, planned to attack the former president while he was golfing. The assassination attempt on Trump took place around 1:30 p.m. local time (1730 GMT) on Sunday.
At a press conference Sunday, Bradshaw gave the first official details, saying it was Secret Service agents who saw a man with a rifle near the fence of the Trump-owned golf course where he was playing, about 300 to 500 yards away.
The secret service shot him and he ran out of the bushes where he was hiding, towards the vehicle in which he was trying to escape, a black van whose license plate a witness managed to photograph.
Thanks to this, the individual was arrested a few minutes later on the road in his vehicle. The weapon was found in the bushes as well as two backpacks and a GoPro sports camera.
Law enforcement officials said at the news conference that the golf course is surrounded by bushes and that when someone is hiding there, they are virtually “out of sight.” They said security is limited to the area the Secret Service considers feasible and that the organization “did what it had to do.”
