Suspect in latest Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes

WASHINGTON – US federal prosecutors on Sept 16 criminally charged a gunman suspected of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump, a day after he was spotted with a rifle hiding in the bushes at Trump’s Florida golf course.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a firearm with an “obliterated” serial number, CNN reported, in what is likely a preliminary move to allow the authorities to keep him in custody while additional charges are brought.

Agents opened fire on a gunman who was spotted with an assault-style rifle hiding in bushes at one of the former US president’s Florida golf courses, a few hundred metres from where Trump was playing. The suspect fled by car, leaving behind two backpacks and his weapon, and was later arrested.

Routh appeared in a federal courtroom in West Palm Beach, Florida, a CNN reporter said on social media.

Routh was wearing dark prison scrubs and his hands and feet were shackled, the reporter said.

Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was safe and 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 July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing his ear with a bullet.

The Secret Service, which protects presidential candidates, “needs more help”, including possibly more personnel, US President Joe Biden told reporters on Sept 16.

The agency came under intense scrutiny after the earlier attempt on Trump’s life, which led to the resignation of director Kimberly Cheatle. The service bolstered Trump’s security detail following the July 13 attack, in which the gunman was shot dead by responding agents.

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

Secret Service acting director Ronald Rowe travelled to Florida after the assassination attempt on Sept 15, according to several news outlets.

Mr Rowe, who took over after Ms Cheatle’s resignation in July, told Congress on July 30 that he was “ashamed” of security lapses in the earlier attack.

Mr Rowe has been with the 7,800-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.

The suspect in the latest case, 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. Trump’s should be MASA... make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose,” read a post on X, tagging Mr 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 the incident on Sept 15.

Ukraine’s International Legion of foreign volunteers said Routh had “never been part of, associated with, or linked to the International Legion in any capacity”.

A legion official told CNN that Routh had sent e-mails offering to recruit foreign volunteers, but Ukraine’s military thought the American was “delusional”.

“We didn’t even answer, there was nothing to answer to. He was never part of the legion and didn’t cooperate with us in any way,” Mr Oleksandr Shaguri, an officer of the Foreigners Coordination Department of the Land Forces Command, told CNN.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was glad to hear Trump was safe, and added that there was no place for violence in politics anywhere.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to link the assassination attempt to Washington’s support for Ukraine.

“It is not us who should be thinking, it is the US intelligence services who should be thinking. In any case, playing with fire has its consequences,” Mr Peskov said, when asked about the attempted assassination.

Democratic presidential candidate and Vice-President Kamala Harris and other Democrats have cast Trump as a danger to US democracy, citing his effort to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election. Ms 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.

Trump blamed Mr Biden and Ms Harris for the assassination attempt, citing their “rhetoric” and claiming the suspected gunman was acting on Democrats’ “highly inflammatory language”.

“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. REUTERS