By Gram Slattery and Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A man suspected of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump was charged with two gun-related crimes in federal court on Monday, a day after being spotted with a rifle hiding in the bushes at the former U.S. president’s golf course in Florida.
Phone records suggest the suspect may have been lying in wait for nearly 12 hours on Sunday, according to a criminal complaint filed on Monday.
More charges appear likely, but the initial counts – possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number – will allow authorities to keep him in custody as the investigation continues.
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election, was 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 U.S. Secret Service opened fire after an agent saw a rifle barrel poking out of the bushes on Sunday at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, a few hundred yards away from where the former president was playing.
The gunman fled in a sports utility vehicle, according to the complaint. Officers found a loaded assault-style rifle with a scope, a digital camera and a plastic bag of food left behind.
A suspect, identified on Monday as Ryan Routh, 58, was arrested about 40 minutes later driving north on Interstate 95. When asked if he knew why he had been stopped, Routh “responded in the affirmative,” according to the complaint. The license plate on his vehicle had been reported stolen from another car.
Records show a phone associated with Routh was located at the golf course starting at 1:59 a.m. (0559 GMT) on Sunday morning.
Routh has at least two prior convictions, both in North Carolina, according to the criminal complaint.
In 2002, he pleaded guilty to possessing a fully automatic gun, commonly known as a machine gun, which is outlawed in the U.S., and was sentenced to probation. In that case, he fled from a traffic stop in Greensboro and barricaded himself inside his roofing business before police were able to arrest him, according to court records and a 2002 news article by the Greensboro News & Record.
He was also convicted of possessing stolen goods in 2010.
Trump blamed President Joe Biden and his Democratic rival for the presidency, Vice President Kamala Harris, for the assassination attempt. He claimed the suspected gunman was acting on Democrats’ “highly inflammatory language,” though authorities have not yet offered evidence of any motive.
“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.
On Sunday, Harris said on X: “Violence has no place in America.”
Local and federal authorities were expected to provide updates at a 4 p.m. ET (2000 GMT) news conference.
SECRET SERVICE UNDER PRESSURE
The Secret Service, which protects U.S. presidents, presidential candidates and other high-level dignitaries, has been under intense scrutiny since the earlier attempt on Trump’s life.
That 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.
The agency “needs more help,” including possibly more personnel, Biden told reporters on Monday, adding: “Thank God the president’s OK.”
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 Johnson who also called for more resources to protect Trump. “We must demand that this job is being done.”
Cheatle’s replacement, Acting Director Ronald Rowe, traveled to Florida after Sunday’s assassination attempt, according to several news outlets. Rowe, who took over after Cheatle’s resignation in July, told Congress on July 30 he was “ashamed” of security lapses in the earlier attack.
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.
SUSPECT IS UKRAINE SYMPATHIZER
Routh was a staunch supporter of Ukraine and had traveled there after Russia’s 2022 invasion, seeking to recruit foreign fighters. Ukrainian officials distanced themselves from Routh on Monday, and The International Legion, where many foreign fighters in Ukraine serve, said it had no links with Routh.
Profiles on X, Facebook (NASDAQ:) and LinkedIn with Routh’s name contained messages of support for Ukraine as well as statements describing Trump as a threat to U.S. democracy.
“@POTUS Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA …make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose,” read a post on X, tagging 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 Sunday’s incident.
Harris and other Democrats have cast Trump as a danger to U.S. democracy, citing his effort to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, which led to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. Harris has promised unwavering support for Ukraine if elected.
Trump has expressed skepticism about the amount of aid the U.S. 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.
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, posted and then deleted a message on the social media site on Sunday wondering why no one had tried to assassinate Biden or Harris. In a follow-up post on Monday, Musk, who has endorsed Trump, said he had been joking.
