TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced new charges Wednesday for the man accused of attempting to kill President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course in September.
Moody said Ryan Routh faces attempted murder after he caused "catastrophic injuries" to a 6-year-old girl in a crash while he was running from police following the assassination attempt on Sept. 15, 2024.
“My heart breaks for the child and her family, and while we continue to seek justice for President Trump, we will fight just as hard to ensure Mr. Routh pays for the tragedy his criminal actions brought on this Florida family,” Moody said.
Moody said Routh ran from Trump's West Palm Beach golf course where the assassination attempt took place, and Martin County Sheriff's Office deputies pursued. During the chase, Moody said Routh crashed, causing injuries to the 6-year-old girl in another car.
Moody said Routh is charged with attempted murder since Routh committed an enumerated felony - domestic terrorism - which caused the girl's injuries.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, attending the press conference alongside Moody, said the federal government has "stonewalled" the state's investigation into the attempt on the president-elect's life, but expects the investigation to pick up when Trump's administration takes office in January.
“The tide will turn on January 20th and we fully expect that the federal roadblocks will be removed," DeSantis said. "The would-be assassin needs to face the full force of justice, and the people deserve the truth about the defendant’s history, motivations and plan.”
The Attempted Assassination
Ryan Routh had been initially charged with two federal firearms offenses. The upgraded charges contained in a five-count indictment reflect the Justice Department's assessment that he methodically plotted to kill the Republican nominee, aiming a rifle through the shrubbery surrounding Trump's West Palm Beach golf course on an afternoon Trump was playing on it. Routh left behind a note in which he described his intention, prosecutors said.
Court records show the case has been assigned to Aileen Cannon, a Trump-appointed federal judge who generated intense scrutiny for her handling of a criminal case charging Trump with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. She dismissed that case in July, a decision now being appealed by special counsel Jack Smith's team.
The attempted assassination indictment had been foreshadowed during a court hearing Monday in which prosecutors successfully argued for the 58-year-old Routh to remain behind bars as a flight risk and a threat to public safety.
They alleged that he had written of his plans to kill Trump in a handwritten note months before his Sept. 15 arrest in which he referred to his actions as a failed “assassination attempt on Donald Trump” and offered $150,000 for anyone who could “finish the job.” That note was in a box that Routh had apparently dropped off at the home of an unidentified witness months before his arrest.
After the attempted assassination, the person opened the box, took a photograph of the front page of the letter — addressed “Dear World” — and contacted law enforcement.
Prosecutors also said Routh kept in his car a handwritten list of venues at which Trump had appeared or was expected to be present in August, September and October.
The charge of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate carries a potential life sentence in the event of a conviction. Other charges in the indictment include assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and the two original firearms charges he faced last week.
The potential shooting was thwarted when a member of Trump’s Secret Service protective detail spotted a partially obscured man's face and a rifle barrel protruding through the golf course fence line, ahead of where Trump was playing. The agent fired in the direction of Routh, who sped away and was stopped by law enforcement in a neighboring county.
Routh did not fire any rounds and did not have Trump in his line of sight, officials have said. He left behind a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a plastic bag containing food.
The arrest came two months after Trump was shot and wounded in the ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has acknowledged failings leading up to that shooting but has said that security worked as it should have to thwart a potential attack in Florida.
The initial charges Routh faced in a criminal complaint accused him of illegally possessing his gun in spite of multiple felony convictions and with possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. It is common for prosecutors to bring preliminary and easily provable charges upon an arrest and then add more serious offenses later as the investigation develops.