Man accused of attempted assassination of Trump in Florida pleads not guilty

Photo: Martin County Sheriff's Office via Associated Press Ryan Routh, 58, was arrested on Sept. 15 shortly after his alleged assassination attempt, as seen here in police body camera footage.

Agence France-Presse in West Palm Beach

Posted at 12:26 PM Updated at 12:48 PM

• United States

The man accused of trying to shoot Donald Trump in Florida, Ryan Routh, pleaded not guilty Monday to all charges, including attempted assassination of a presidential candidate.

“We plead not guilty” to all five counts, his court-appointed lawyer, Kristy Militello, said during a hearing that lasted a few minutes in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida (southeast).

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Ryan Routh, 58, simply answered “yes, your honor” when asked if he was aware of the charges against him.

Arrested on September 15 shortly after his alleged assassination attempt, he entered the courtroom handcuffed and shackled, wearing a beige prisoner’s uniform.

Illegal possession of a weapon

Ryan Routh had been put on the run by Secret Service agents, responsible for protecting senior American political figures, who had spotted him with a weapon near the golf course where Donald Trump was playing.

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He is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm due to his criminal record, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime, and assaulting a federal agent.

According to the analysis by the American federal police (FBI) of the location of his phones, he had been in Florida since August 18 and his devices were located on multiple occasions between that date and September 15 near Donald Trump's golf course and his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Before being spotted, he had also spent nearly 12 hours around the golf club, according to the prosecution, which released a handwritten letter dating back several months in which he expressed his intention to assassinate Donald Trump.

The case was randomly assigned last week to Judge Aileen Cannon, the same judge who ruled strongly in favor of the former Republican president in another case in July.

The former Republican president had already narrowly escaped another assassination attempt on July 13 when a gunman opened fire during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania (northeast), hitting him in the ear and killing a member of the audience.