US prosecutors have charged a man arrested near Donald Trump’s Florida golf course with the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate.
It occurs one day after it was revealed in a court document that Ryan Wesley Routh had written a message expressing his intention to assassinate Trump months prior. Routh, 58, is already facing two gun-related counts that carry a maximum 20-year prison sentence. However, if found guilty on the new, more serious charge, he could receive a maximum term of life in jail.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland declared in a statement that “violence targeting public officials endangers everything our country stands for” and vowed to “use every available tool” to hold Routh accountable. In a social media tweet on Monday, Trump criticized the government of mishandling the issue and said that the justice department should “LET FLORIDA HANDLE THE CASE!” On Tuesday, however, Garland shot down that idea, telling reporters that his organization will “seek to cooperate and get assistance from” state officials “consistent with the law.”
According to court records, US District Judge Aileen Cannon was randomly selected to hear the case. Judge Cannon hails from South Florida; she took on Trump’s federal classified materials case last year and dismissed it earlier this year. Her ruling is being appealed at this time. Prosecutors claimed Routh posed a risk of escape and posed a threat to the community, so a different court on Monday ordered him to stay in detention. Since his arrest on September 15, the suspect has been detained at a South Florida detention facility.
