Trump suspect pleads not guilty to attempted assassination charge
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: The man charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump after allegedly positioning himself with a rifle outside one of the former president's Florida golf courses on Sep15 pleaded not guilty on Monday (Sep 30) to five federal charges.
Ryan Routh, 58, entered the plea to charges that include attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate during a hearing before US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart. Routh has already been ordered to remain in jail pending trial.
Routh appeared for the hearing handcuffed and wearing a tan prison jumpsuit. He answered, "Yes, your honour," when asked by Reinhart if he understood the charges against him. Routh's defence lawyer then entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.
"This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you," the suspect wrote, according to a court filing by prosecutors.
Lawyers for Routh suggested at a Sep 23 court hearing that the letter may have been an attempt by their client to gain publicity and highlighted what they called Routh's efforts to promote democracy in Ukraine and Taiwan.
A Secret Service agent patrolling the course ahead of Trump spotted Routh and opened fire after noticing the rifle sticking through a fence. Routh fled and was later arrested along a Florida highway, prosecutors said.
Routh was initially charged with gun-related offences. An indictment last week added the attempted assassination charge along with assault on a federal officer and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Trump has sought to turn the assassination attempts into a campaign issue, alleging that the Justice Department, which charged Trump in two criminal cases last year, should not be trusted to handle the investigation.