Suspect Ryan Routh faces several charges, including attempted assassination of a major US presidential candidate.The man charged with attempting to assassinate Republican presidential candidate and former United States President Donald Trump earlier this month has pleaded not guilty to federal charges.
Ryan Routh, 58, entered the plea to charges that include attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate during a hearing before US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart on Monday.
Wearing a beige prison uniform and shackles on his wrists and ankles, Routh answered “yes, your honour” when the judge asked him if he was aware of the charges against him.
Routh – who also has been charged with assaulting a federal officer and firearms offences – has already been ordered to remain in jail pending trial.
Prosecutors have accused Routh of intending to kill Trump as the former US president golfed at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15.
Routh was arrested after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking out from brush on the perimetre of the golf course. The agent opened fire and Routh, who fled in a vehicle, was arrested shortly after that.
A struggling roofing contractor, Routh 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 suspect wrote, according to a court filing by prosecutors.
Lawyers for Routh suggested at a September 23 court hearing that the letter may have been a …