(The Center Square) – The man prosecutors accused of stalking former President Donald Trump for a month before he built a sniper’s nest near the Trump International golf course in West Palm Beach pleaded not guilty Monday to attempted assassination of a presidential candidate.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, waived formal reading of the indictment on Monday and entered a plea of not guilty. He spent three minutes in the courtroom, according to a docket entry.
Federal prosecutors charged Routh, of Hawaii, with possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.
An FBI agent detailed in court documents the inside of the alleged gunman’s sniper nest where prosecutors said he waited for hours with a scope-fitted rifle. A photo of the nest showed two bags hanging from a fence off the sixth hole. An FBI agent said the bags contained plates that could stop small arms fire. In between the two bags was an SKS rifle with a scope. Agents matched a fingerprint on the rifle to Routh.
Prosecutors said Routh had been planning to kill the former president for months. Agents found in Routh’s Nissan Xterra a handwritten list of dates in August, September, and October 2024 and venues where Trump had appeared or was expected to be present.
Routh also left a note.
Routh, a resident of Hawaii and North Carolina and participant in the latter’s March 5 primary, left the note with a person federal prosecutors described as a civilian witness several months before the Sept. 15 incident. According to court records filed Monday, the person reached out to law enforcement on Wednesday. The letter offered money to anyone who would finish the job.
The letter reads in part, “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”
Routh’s attorney chalked it all up to a publicity stunt.
A U.S. Secret Service agent, a hole ahead of Trump walking the perimeter, spotted a rifle sticking out from the tree line. The agent fired in the direction of the rifle before a witness told authorities Routh sped away in a Nissan sport utility vehicle.
Routh’s cellphone records indicated he had been camped out from 1:59 a.m. to 1:31 p.m., according to a criminal complaint filed in the federal case.
Authorities caught Routh on Interstate 95.
