Suspect faces gun charges; Trump blames 'rhetoric of Biden and Harris'

A gated road, lined with palm trees, leading to buildings with red roofs

Sept. 16, 2024 Updated 3:01 PM PT

The suspect’s cellphone was in the vicinity of Trump’s golf course for 12 hours, prosecutors say
Trump blames Democrats: ‘Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying’

The man who went to former President Trump’s golf course allegedly intent on killing him staked him out from a row of trees on the edge of the course for more than 11½ hours, biding his time undetected until an agent saw his rifle poking out of the greenery, prosecutors said Monday.

As Ryan Wesley Routh was charged in federal court Monday, an affidavit written by Secret Service Special Agent Mark A. Thomas said Routh’s cellphone was in the vicinity of the tree line near the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., at 1:59 a.m. Sunday — nearly 12 hours before a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle at 1:31 p.m.

A man with dark brown hair, in a white shirt, smiling

By the time the agent fired a service weapon in the direction of the rifle, Trump was less than 500 yards away.

A witness then saw a man, later identified as Routh, flee the area, enter a Nissan sport utility vehicle and speed away.

Routh appeared prepared for the hours-long wait for Trump: He had a plastic bag containing food, according to the affidavit filed by prosecutors, along with a digital camera, two bags including a backpack, and a loaded SKS semiautomatic rifle, a style first developed in the Soviet Union in the 1940s, with a scope.

The serial number on the rifle was obliterated and unreadable to the naked eye, and Thomas wrote that he believed it was not manufactured in Florida and had previously traveled in interstate or foreign commerce.

Routh’s Nissan, the affidavit says, had a license plate belonging to a stolen Ford truck — often an indication that someone is trying to evade authorities.

Jeffrey Veltri, FBI special agent in charge of the Miami field office, said at a news conference Monday that Routh was the subject of a 2019 tip to the FBI alleging he was a felon in possession of a firearm. The FBI did not verify the information, but passed it on to local law enforcement in Hawaii.

When special agents attempted to interview Routh on Sunday, he invoked his right to an attorney. Special agents are now going through Routh’s cellphones and a video device, Veltri said, and interviewing family and associates in North Carolina and Hawaii. They are also looking at his whereabouts in the days before the arrest, as well as public statements and posts about his desire to fight for Ukraine.

In a brief appearance Monday before U.S. Magistrate Ryon McCabe at the Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in West Palm Beach, Routh was shackled at his wrists and ankles and wearing a navy blue federal custody uniform. He did not enter a plea to the charges.

After the charges were read, Routh said, “Yes, your honor.”

After hearing Routh had no significant assets, the magistrate agreed to the appointment of a public defender and scheduled bail and arraignment for later this month.

U.S. Atty. Adam McMichael, representing the Southern District of Florida, indicated prosecutors believe him to be a flight risk and would seek to keep him behind bars pending trial.

As the Secret Service faced new scrutiny Monday, Trump blamed the violence on Democrats who cast him as a threat to democracy.

A gray-haired main, in dark suit and tie, seen from the side, speaks to a crowd of reporters

“The Rhetoric, Lies, as exemplified by the false statements made by Comrade Kamala Harris during the rigged and highly partisan ABC Debate, and all of the ridiculous lawsuits specifically designed to inflict damage on Joe’s, then Kamala’s, Political Opponent, ME, has taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust,” Trump posted Monday on the social platform X.

“Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!”

“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris and he acted on it,” Trump said of the gunman in a Monday morning interview with Fox News Digital. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at.”

Though Democrats have called Trump’s own rhetoric divisive, they largely avoided criticizing his comments Monday and instead stayed silent or expressed relief that the attempt on Trump’s life was not successful.

President Biden, speaking to reporters as he left the White House on Monday morning, said he thanked God that Trump was not injured, but was concerned that the agency protecting the former president lacked resources.

“One thing I want to make clear is: The service needs more help,” Biden said. “And I think Congress should respond to their need.”

Pressed on what the Secret Service may need, Biden said: “They may decide whether they need more personnel or not.”

He later commended the Secret Service for their “expert handling of the situation.”

“Those of you who know me know this: In America, there is no place for political violence,” the president said at an event in Philadelphia.

Routh was taken into custody Sunday after officers from the Palm Beach County and Martin County sheriff’s offices located the Nissan as it traveled north on I-95. Just before 2:15 p.m., Martin County sheriff’s deputies stopped the vehicle.

Bodycam fvideo of Routh’s arrest shared by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office showed Routh with his shirt lifted and arms above his head after he was pulled over more than 40 miles north of West Palm Beach.

After swarming his vehicle, armed deputies ordered him to get out of the vehicle.

“Driver, take two steps to your right,” a law enforcement officer bellowed. “Driver, walk straight back. Keep walking.”

Routh emerged, wearing a bright orange short-sleeved T-shirt and dark sunglasses, and lifted his shirt up, seemingly to show he had no weapons. He was grabbed by two deputies who restrained his arms and handcuffed him.

When asked whether he knew why he was being stopped, Routh indicated yes, the affidavit said.

Routh was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Officials said he could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the first charge, plus an additional five years if convicted of the second charge.

Trump was unharmed in the incident. “It was certainly an interesting day!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site on Sunday night.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that he and his wife, Kelly, had been en route to see Trump at Mar-a-Lago, across the Intracoastal Waterway from the golf club, at the time.

After a traffic delay, they met. He and Trump were briefed by acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe about 90 minutes later by phone, he said. Johnson praised the immediate actions of the agency — including officers who spotted the gun — but said it needs to do more for Trump.

“President Trump needs the most coverage of anyone,” Johnson said, attributing his survival to providence. “He’s the most attacked, he’s the most threatened.”

But “I don’t think it’s a funding issue. I think it’s a manpower allocation,” he added.

Johnson praised “some really patriotic, great people working in the Secret Service” but blamed leadership, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, whom the House impeached in February before the charges were dismissed by the Senate. The department oversees the Secret Service.

A man with dark hair, in dark suit and tie, gestures with his hands as he speaks at a news conference.

At a news conference Monday in West Palm Beach, Rowe defended the law enforcement agency, praising his agents for rising to the moment of this “unprecedented and hyper dynamic threat environment.”

“What was critical was the quick reaction response, the hypervigilance of the men and women of the United States Secret Service,” he said. “I could not be more proud of them.”

But Rowe also noted that Trump’s golf outing was not planned. “The President wasn’t even really supposed to go there,” he said. However, the agency “put together a security plan and that security plan worked.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his state would also investigate the incident, citing “multiple violations of state law” while adding that the federal government had a conflict of interest.

Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, a Republican who is a member of the House task force on July’s attempted assassination of Trump, said Sunday on Fox News that the Secret Service had great agents on the ground but lacked strong leaders.

“They’re going to come to us for more money,” Burchett said of the Secret Service. ”I think they need to quit with the DEI hires and start putting qualified people out there in decision-making positions instead of what they’re doing right now.”

On Monday, Burchett appeared to call on American vigilantes to protect Trump.

“The best protection Donald Trump has right now comes from We the People,” Burchett posted on X.

Meanwhile, there was tension on social media over the role of public figures in stoking further violence.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, deleted a post Sunday that said: “No one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.”

Musk, who has endorsed Trump and interviewed him on X, wrote the post in response to a user who asked, “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?”

After the comment drew widespread outrage, Musk wrote a follow-up post: “Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text.”

Feds charge suspect with gun crimes as Trump blames ‘rhetoric of Biden and Harris’

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