The FBI said it’s investigating an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump on Sunday at his Florida golf course near his Mar-a-Lago home. So why has the suspect, Ryan Routh, only been charged with gun possession crimes?
The answer is that those charges might not be the only ones he faces; additional charges could follow as the case proceeds. That wouldn’t be unusual in any criminal case, much less so in a highly sensitive prosecution involving a former president and current presidential nominee.
Routh appeared in federal court in Florida on Monday and was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
To be sure, those are serious charges that could result in prison time if Routh is convicted. And even if they’re the only charges that ever come, they’ll likely receive aggressive treatment from prosecutors in this high-profile case.
To be sure, those are serious charges that could result in prison time if Routh is convicted. And even if they’re the only charges that ever come, they’ll likely receive aggressive treatment from prosecutors in this high-profile case. These sorts of charges can be easy to prove, and having a gun with an obliterated serial number can be a damning fact for defendants, given that people can use such weapons to avoid detection.
According to an affidavit sworn to by an FBI agent Monday along with the criminal complaint against Routh, a Secret Service agent assigned to Trump’s detail on Sunday at his West Palm Beach golf course saw what appeared to be a rifle poking out of the tree line, and the agent fired their weapon toward the rifle. The affidavit says Routh then fled the area and that agents recovered a loaded rifle with a scope, a digital camera, two bags and some food.
Two months ago, the shooter in the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania was killed at the scene. By way of comparison to another high-profile case involving an apparent assassination attempt, consider the prosecution of Nicholas Roske, who is facing federal charges in Maryland for allegedly trying to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022. In that case, the affidavit in support of the initial criminal complaint alleged that the defendant admitted to wanting to kill Kavanaugh. (Roske has pleaded not guilty.) Meanwhile, the affidavit with the complaint against Routh doesn’t contain such an allegation. But that doesn’t mean that the authorities don’t have or aren’t developing further evidence in the case that could lead to additional charges, nor would an outright confession be necessary to bring more serious charges. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for updates and expert analysis on the top legal stories. The newsletter will return to its regular weekly schedule when the Supreme Court’s next term kicks off in October.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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