The man accused of attempting to assassinate former President Trump at one of his Florida golf courses earlier this month has pleaded not guilty to five federal charges, according to The Associated Press.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, appeared in federal court Monday to enter not guilty pleas to counts including attempted assassination of a major political candidate and assault of a federal officer, after he allegedly poked a rifle through the perimeter of Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course, prompting a Secret Service agent to fire.
Routh also pleaded not guilty to charges he possessed a firearm with an obliterated serial number despite being a convicted felon in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Prosecutors say Routh planned to kill Trump as he golfed on Sept. 15, staking out the perimeter of the course near its sixth hole for roughly 12 hours until he was noticed and fled. They revealed last week that Routh allegedly wrote a letter months before the assassination attempt detailing his plans.
“Dear world, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you,” Routh wrote, according to the letter filed by prosecutors. “I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster.”
At his arraignment Monday, which lasted less than five minutes, Routh’s lawyer requested a jury trial, according to NewsNation.
While waiting for the judge to enter the courtroom, Routh smirked at media in the courtroom and nodded at a sketch artist, NewsNation reported.
It marked the second recent attempt on Trump’s life, after the former president was bloodied by a shot to the ear during a July campaign rally in Butler, Pa. That gunman was killed by a Secret Service sniper moments after firing at Trump and killing a rallygoer.
The Secret Service said Routh did not take any shots and never had Trump in his line of sight. When the Secret Service agent spotted him, he allegedly fled the scene, leaving behind two bags, a loaded rifle with a scope and other items.
He was stopped by law enforcement on Interstate 95 in a neighboring county and answered affirmatively that he knew why he was being stopped, according to an FBI affidavit.
Prosecutors later revealed that Routh traveled from the Greensboro, N.C., area to West Palm Beach on Aug. 14, his phone pinging cell towers near the golf course and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in the month before the incident.
Routh’s criminal history is extensive, including dozens of charges in North Carolina spanning traffic violations to a conviction on felony counts of possessing a weapon of mass destruction and possession of stolen goods.
The former president has looked to turn the assassination attempt into a campaign issue by suggesting that the “Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Department of Justice and FBI” cannot be trusted to handle the case. Before Routh was indicted for attempted assassination, he faced only two of the firearms charges, which Trump’s campaign called a “slap on the wrist.”
The assassination suspect’s case was randomly assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who threw out the former president’s classified documents criminal case earlier this year.
Updated at 12:46 p.m. EDT
