The man accused of trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump last month in Florida will stand trial in November, a federal judge ordered on Oct. 1.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon set Nov. 18 as the trial date for Ryan Routh, 58. The order came a day after he pleaded not guilty to five federal charges, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.
Last month, a magistrate judge ordered Routh to remain in jail without bond to await trial, citing a potential flight risk.
Routh is accused of lying in wait for Trump near one of Trump’s Florida golf courses, armed with an SKS-style rifle, and allegedly leaving behind a note saying he sought to assassinate the former president.
Officials have said Routh was thwarted in his attempt to assassinate Trump on Sept. 15 when a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a rifle poking through a fence at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, and opened fire. Routh was arrested after allegedly fleeing the scene.
Initially, Routh was charged in a criminal complaint only with gun-related offenses before prosecutors filed additional charges against him, including the assassination attempt charge.
Routh also faces charges of illegally possessing a firearm as a felon, having a firearm with an obliterated serial number, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and assaulting a federal officer, according to prosecutors.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to a Department of Justice statement.
Federal officials and prosecutors have not disclosed a motive for Routh. The handwritten note that he allegedly left with another individual months before the incident suggests that he was angered over Trump’s dealings with Iran while he was president.
“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” Routh allegedly wrote.
Later, he added that Trump “ended relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has unraveled,” possibly referring to the Trump administration’s move in 2018 to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal. The United States has not had formal relations with Iran since the 1979 revolution that installed the current regime.
Routh also has an extensive social media history, including frequent posts supporting Ukraine in the Ukraine–Russia conflict. He made other posts online that were critical of the former president, including posts published after the first assassination attempt against Trump in July.
Routh also apparently wrote a self-published book in which he addressed Iran, writing that its regime was “free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of” the Iran deal.
The DOJ has said that Routh was convicted of felonies in North Carolina in 2002 and 2010. In the 2002 conviction, according to the FBI, Routh was accused of possessing a weapon of mass destruction.
Cannon wrote in her Oct. 1 order that all motions in the Routh case must be filed before Oct. 18. The trial will be held at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Cannon previously oversaw the federal classified documents case against Trump before dismissing it. In July, Cannon concluded that special counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed by the DOJ to bring the case against the former president. Smith has since appealed her ruling.
The incident allegedly involving Routh came about two months after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman opened fire while the former president was speaking to the crowd. Trump’s right ear was grazed by a bullet, two people were hospitalized with injuries, and one person was killed in the shooting. The Secret Service killed the gunman.
Trump is set to face Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election on Nov. 5.
Reuters contributed to this report.
