What happened
A federal grand jury in Miami Tuesday indicted Ryan Routh, accused of stalking Donald Trump and pointing a loaded rifle toward where he was golfing, on an attempted assassination charge. The upgraded five-count indictment also accused Routh of assaulting a federal officer and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime. Federal prosecutors initially detained him on two weapons counts as they prepared these more serious charges.
Who said what
Prosecutors said Routh had been in the Palm Beach area for about a month before the alleged assassination bid and kept in his car a list of places Trump had been or was expected to appear between August and October. The indictment included images of a handwritten note an unidentified witness said he discovered after Routh's arrest in a box the suspect had left in his care. "Dear world," the note said, "this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you."
"Violence targeting public officials endangers everything our country stands for," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, and the Justice Department "will use every available tool to hold Ryan Routh accountable" for the alleged "attempted assassination" of Trump.
What next?
Attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate is punishable with up to life in prison. Routh's case was randomly assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the controversial Trump appointee who threw out the Justice Department's case against the former president for hoarding highly classified government secrets at his Mar-a-Lago club. Her decision to dismiss the case is under appeal.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Hegseth’s Signal chat put troops in peril, probe findsSpeed Read The defense secretary risked the lives of military personnel and violated Pentagon rules, says new report
-
Texas is trying to become America’s next financial hubIn the Spotlight The Lone Star State could soon have three major stock exchanges
-
Trump pardons Texas Democratic congressmanspeed read Rep. Henry Cuellar was charged with accepting foreign bribes tied to Azerbaijan and Mexico
-
Trump pardons Texas Democratic congressman
speed read Rep. Henry Cuellar was charged with accepting foreign bribes tied to Azerbaijan and Mexico
-
‘It is their greed and the pollution from their products that hurt consumers’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump targets ‘garbage’ Somalis ahead of ICE raidsSpeed Read The Department of Homeland Security will launch an immigration operation targeting Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area
-
Hegseth blames ‘fog of war’ for potential war crimespeed read ‘I did not personally see survivors,’ Hegseth said at a Cabinet meeting
-
‘It’s critical that Congress get involved’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Appeals court disqualifies US Attorney Alina HabbaSpeed Read The former personal attorney to President Donald Trump has been unlawfully serving as US attorney for New Jersey, the ruling says
-
The military: When is an order illegal?Feature Trump is making the military’s ‘most senior leaders complicit in his unlawful acts’
-
Ukraine and Rubio rewrite Russia’s peace planFeature The only explanation for this confusing series of events is that ‘rival factions’ within the White House fought over the peace plan ‘and made a mess of it’
