The man who loitered around armed for 12 hours near the golf club where Donald Trump was playing on September 15 has finally been charged with attempted murder of a presidential candidate. The federal prosecutor’s office, which until now had only been able to file two charges for illegal possession of weapons, has considered that it has sufficient evidence against Ryan Routh, the 58-year-old man who was arrested when he tried to flee in a vehicle 45 minutes after being detected with a loaded rifle next to the fence of the golf club in West Palm Beach (Florida).
Although he did not actually fire the gun, prosecutors allege in their motion that his intent, which he left written in a letter, was to kill the former president. His phone records show he was at the scene of the shooting, as well as at the Mar-a-Lago residence (about 7 kilometers away) on several occasions between August 18 and September 15, leading prosecutors to conclude that Routh “stalked” the former president for a month.
He documentThe eight-page document shows that Judge Aileen Cannon has been randomly selected to oversee the case. She is the same judge — appointed by Trump himself in 2020 — who presided over the former president’s case over the classified documents he took to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House and then dismissed it, arguing that the appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith violated the constitution.
Routh’s two previous charges – possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a gun with an obliterated serial number – which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, remain intact in the new indictment. He is due to appear before a judge next Monday, when all charges will be read out.
“The attempted assassination of the former president is a heinous act,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at an earlier press briefing. “I am grateful that he is safe, and as I said immediately after the incident, the Department of Justice will spare no resources to ensure accountability.”
Trump accuses the Justice Department and the FBI of a “conflict of interest” in his case and asks that it be taken over by the state of Florida
As the investigation into Routh’s motives continues, Trump yesterday accused the Justice Department and the FBI of having a “conflict of interest” in his case, as they “have long been obsessed with getting Trump” based on “false cases” brought against him by the US justice system.
The Republican asked that the case against Routh not be brought by the federal prosecutor’s office, but by the state of Florida. The tycoon believes that in that state, governed by former Republican candidate Ron DeSantis (who has already approved an independent investigation), he would be able to find “much more serious” crimes against the accused.
“If the Department of Justice and the FBI cannot do their jobs honestly and without bias, and hold the would-be assassin accountable to the fullest extent of the law, Governor Ron DeSantis and the State of Florida have already agreed to take the lead in the investigation and prosecution,” Trump said before learning of the new indictment. He has not yet commented on the charge of attempted murder.
Source: www.lavanguardia.com
