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 September 15 has pleaded not guilty to five federal charges.
Ryan Routh, 58, entered the plea during a hearing in federal court to charges that include attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate. He has already been ordered to remain in jail to await a trial.
Prosecutors have said Routh intended to kill Trump as he golfed at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Routh, a struggling roofing contractor, condemned the Republican presidential candidate in a self-published book and dropped off a letter left months earlier with an associate referencing an attempted assassination on Trump, according to prosecutors.
“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” the accused wrote, according to a court filing by prosecutors.
Routh’s lawyers suggested at a September 23 court hearing that the letter may have been an attempt by their client to gain publicity and highlighted what they called his efforts to promote democracy in Ukraine and Taiwan.