OAN Staff Sophia Flores
5:50 PM – Tuesday, September 24, 2024
58-year-old Ryan Routh has officially been charged with attempting to assassinate 45th President Donald Trump.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland of the Justice Department announced the upgraded charges during a news conference on Tuesday. The DOJ has charged Routh with meticulously planning the assassination of the former GOP president while he was camped out on Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach.
The indictment added three additional charges, which includes attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and assaulting a federal officer.
These charges are in addition to the two federal firearms charges that he is already facing.
“Violence targeting public officials endangers everything our country stands for, and the Department of Justice will use every available tool to hold Ryan Routh accountable for the attempted assassination of former President Trump charged in the indictment,” Attorney General Merrick Garland stated. “The Justice Department will not tolerate violence that strikes at the heart of our democracy, and we will find and hold accountable those who perpetrate it. This must stop.”
During a court hearing on Monday, prosecutors outlined new details about their investigation into the assassination attempt. They stated that there is “probable cause to support additional charges which can and should be considered by the court.”
Prosecutors also brought up the fact that Routh purportedly sent a letter “several months prior” to the assassination attempt. In the letter, he strangely said, “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you.”
Judge Aileen Cannon has been selected at random to oversee the case. She is the Trump-appointed judge who threw away Trump’s classified documents case.
The 58-year-old is set to be arraigned on the charges during a court hearing next week.
Routh is the accused gunman who camped out close to Trump’s Florida golf club for 12 hours, waiting for the former president to be in his line of sight, while armed with a firearm. However, Routh and his pointed firearm were noticed by a U.S. Secret Service agent, who foiled his plan to assassinate the former president.
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