Trump was uninjured, and there’s no evidence that Routh fired his weapon at the golf course where he was playing.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A federal trial is set to commence Monday for a man accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump while he was playing golf in Florida in September 2024.
The jury selection process is anticipated to span three days, involving the questioning of three groups of 60 prospective jurors. The goal is to select 12 jurors and four alternates. Opening statements are slated for Thursday, followed immediately by the prosecution’s case. The court has allocated four weeks for the trial, though attorneys believe they will require less time.
Here’s what to know about the case.
The judge lets Routh represent himself
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon consented in July to Ryan Routh’s request to represent himself during his trial, stipulating that court-appointed attorneys should remain as standby counsel.
The judge expressed to Routh her opinion that representing himself was inadvisable, but he remained undeterred. Routh, who completed two years of college following his GED certification, assured Cannon that he was aware of the potential difficulties and would be prepared.
During a hearing earlier this week, Cannon assured that Routh would be attired in professional business clothing for the trial. She also clarified that Routh would be permitted to use a podium while addressing the jury or questioning witnesses, though he would not have unrestricted movement within the courtroom.
“If you make any sudden movements, marshals will take decisive and quick action to respond,” Cannon said.
Routh is a self-styled mercenary leader
The 59-year-old Routh, originally a construction worker from North Carolina, had relocated to Hawaii in recent years. Describing himself as a mercenary leader, Routh reportedly shared his dangerous, sometimes violent intentions to engage in global conflicts with anyone willing to listen, according to witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press.
In the early days of the war in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to fight the Russians. In his native Greensboro, North Carolina, he had a 2002 arrest for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction,” which turned out to be an explosive with a 10-inch-long fuse.
In 2010, police searched a warehouse Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen items, from power tools and building supplies to kayaks and spa tubs. In both felony cases, judges gave Routh either probation or a suspended sentence.
Routh is charged with attempted assassination
Authorities said Routh tried to assassinate Trump, the Republican nominee for presidential, while he played golf at his golf club in West Palm Beach.
Routh is facing five felony counts in federal court in Fort Pierce. They include attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate; possessing a firearm to carry out a violent crime; assaulting a federal officer; felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition; and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
In addition to the federal charges, Routh also has pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder.
Same judge presided over Trump case
Cannon is the same judge who presided over another high-profile case involving Trump — the classified documents case.
Last year, Cannon sided with Trump’s lawyers who said the special counsel who filed the charges was illegally appointed by the U.S. Justice Department. Cannon’s ruling halted a criminal case that at the time it was filed was widely regarded as the most perilous of all the legal threats the president faced before he returned to office last January.
Cannon was a former federal prosecutor who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020.
Trump was not hurt by Routh
Trump was uninjured, and there’s no evidence that Routh fired his weapon at the golf course. U.S. Secret Service agents stationed a few holes up from where Trump was playing golf noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away. An agent fired, and the gunman dropped the rifle and fled in an SUV, leaving the firearm behind along with two backpacks, a scope used for aiming and a GoPro camera. He was later stopped by law enforcement in a neighboring county.
Last September’s alleged assassination attempt took place just nine weeks after Trump survived another attempt on his life in Pennsylvania.
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