The man who appeared to want to shoot Donald Trump on Sunday had been on the scene around the ex-president in Palm Beach for up to 12 hours, law enforcement said today. However, even though Ryan Wesley Routh got within 500 yards of Trump, he never fired a shot.
Based on tracking of Routh’s s cell phone data, the revelation by law enforcement today of the suspect’s actions on September 15 further muddied the situation as it was a sudden “off the record movement” by Trump that saw him at his Florida golf course. “He wasn’t supposed to go there,” Secret Service acting director Ronald Rowe Jr told the media in a joint press conference Monday.
Not that the lack of Routh pulling the trigger from the bushes on the public side of the Sunshine State golf course seemed to matter much to Trump.
On social media Monday, Trump himself raged that the “bullets are flying and it will only get worse.” In characteristic attack mode, Trump also went after “Comrade Kamala Harris” and immigrants in his extended post.
After the previous assassination attempt on Trump in July in Pennsylvania, Secret Service “assets,” as the agency calls its agents, and “protective apparatus” were increased around the former president. In fact, after the shots at Trump in Butler, PA, both the Republican and Vice President and Democratic candidate Harris have the highest level of protection under orders from President Joe Biden, it was made clear today. With what appears to be the support of Biden, the Trump campaign reportedly has requested even more Secret Service protection now – especially with a campaign rally coming up Wednesday on Long Record.
Just over 24 hours after the incident, today’s press conference was covered live on CNN, Fox News and MSNC as well as special reports by CBS and others. Expected to be back in court next week and with more charges likely, the 58-year-old Routh appeared before a federal judge in West Palm Beach Monday morning for two gun crimes. After the hearing to keep Routh detained, the suspect will be formally arraigned on September 30.
US Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. speaks during a news conference Monday.
A Secret Service agent assigned to Trump on Sunday was walking the perimeter of Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, FL when he spotted “what appeared to be a rifle poking out of the tree line,” according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint against Routh. The agent fired shots in the direction of the rifle, and the man later was spotted fleeing the area in a Nissan SUV. Thanks to a witness, Routh was captured within the hour.
The suspect has engaged lawyers and is not cooperating with the investigation, officials said Monday.
Under siege anew after the assassination attempt against the former president earlier this summer, a sometimes combative Rowe asserted that Routh did not “have line of sight” on Trump on Sunday. The newly appointed acting director stressed today the Secret Service needs to change their “protective methodology” and said he would be having some “hard conversations with Congress” about increased money for more agents and other capabilities.
With the matter still an active investigation, Jeffrey Veltri, special agent in charge of the FBI Miami Field Office, said Monday that “we do not have information that he has been acting with anyone else at present.” The bureau also noted that Routh, who has been previously charged for various felonies, was the subject of a 2019 FBI tip that he was felon in possession of a firearm, but the tip was left unverified by the person who gave it to the agency.
With just 50 days left until the election, Trump is expected to make an appearance online at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET Monday to promote a new cryptocurrency business. Fox News has more of a previous interview with Trump also airing tonight.
