The gunman who allegedly tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump while he was golfing has been ordered held without bail until his trial.
Ryan Wesley Routh appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday morning for a three-hour hearing. Judge Ryan McCabe agreed with prosecutors that Routh should remain in jail pending his indictment on weapons charges.
Prosecutors on Monday released letters in which Routh allegedly admitted to plotting to kill Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, and encouraged others to do the same.
Routh, 58, was arrested on Sept. 15 after Secret Service agents found the muzzle of an SKS assault rifle protruding from shrubbery outside Trump International Golf Club last Sunday.
Prosecutors say agents fired their guns before the would-be assassin shot Trump.
Routh, a Hawaii resident, dropped the gun and fled, leaving behind two backpacks and a GoPro camera and other evidence. He was apprehended and arrested 40 minutes later.
Federal investigators argued that Routh was too dangerous to remain free and told the judge he should be kept in custody.
In fact, Routh had reportedly penned a damning memo addressed to “the world” a few months earlier, in which he said, “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, and I have let you all down.”
“I have done my best and have put all the courage I had into this,” the letter read. “It is now up to you to finish the job. I will offer $150,000 to anyone who finishes the job.”
The note was placed in a box containing “ammunition, metal pipes, various construction materials, tools, four phones” and other letters. The box was dropped off at the home of an unidentified person, who turned the contents over to investigators after Routh's arrest.
Routh is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, which could carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted of the first offense.
Routh has two previous convictions in North Carolina: in 2002 he was convicted of possession of a weapon of mass destruction after being arrested with a bomb during a standoff with police, and in 2010 he was convicted of multiple counts of possessing stolen property.
