Suspect claimed "assassination attempt on Donald Trump," also searched how to travel to Mexico, FBI says
Washington — The FBI revealed Monday that the man arrested in connection with the apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump earlier this month had in his vehicle a list of dates and venues where the former president had appeared or was expected to appear, and a cellphone found in his vehicle showed searches of how to get from West Palm Beach to Mexico.
The FBI said in the filing that Ryan Wesley Routh, who was identified as the suspect in the incident, had left a handwritten letter with a man months before, addressed "Dear World," that said: "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."
The details were revealed in a court filing from federal prosecutors calling for Routh to remain detained through a trial. Routh appeared before a federal magistrate judge for a pretrial detention hearing Monday, during which he was denied bond and ordered to remain behind bars. Federal prosecutors revealed during the proceeding that they plan to ask a grand jury to return a new indictment charging Routh with attempted assassination of a political figure, which carries a maximum potential sentence of life in prison.
Routh has already been charged with two federal firearms offenses after the apparent assassination attempt on Trump. The Secret Service said Trump was not harmed after an agent spotted a man's face in the brush, later identified as Routh, and a rifle along the fence line outside of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15.
Federal authorities said no shots were fired at Trump while he was on the golf course, but the agent fired at the suspect, who fled.
CBS News has reached out to Routh's attorney for comment.
Prosecutors said in their latest filing that the suspect was in line with the 6th-hole green, and Trump was playing the 5th hole when the Secret Service agent opened fire. Trump was swiftly removed from the area once the shots were fired, according to the filing.
The FBI found in the fence line an AK-47 style rifle with a scope attached and extended magazine. The gun was loaded with 11 rounds, according to court filings, and the serial number on the rifle was obliterated and unreadable. Secret Service agents also found a digital camera, backpack and reusable shopping bag hanging from the fence, prosecutors said.
The backpack and shopping bag contained plates that "were capable of stopping small arms fire," according to the filing.
Routh was arrested about 50 miles away, after a witness at the golf course shared a description of the vehicle and license plate, prosecutors said. During a search of the SUV, a Nissan Xterra, the FBI found additional license plates, six cellphones, 12 pairs of gloves, a Hawaii driver's license in Routh's name, and documents, according to the court filing. The FBI said the license plate on the SUV was not registered to that vehicle.
One of the phones contained a Google search of how to travel from Palm Beach County, Florida, where Trump's golf course is located, to Mexico, prosecutors said. Among the documents was a handwritten list of dates in August, September and October and venues where Trump had appeared or was expected to go, according to the court records.
Cell site records obtained by the FBI for two of the phones found in the vehicle showed that the suspect traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach on Aug. 14, prosecutors said. The records also showed that on multiple days and times from Aug. 18 to Sept. 15, the day of the incident, Routh's cellphone accessed towers near Trump International Golf Course and Mar-a-Lago, the former president's South Florida residence, according to the court filing.
The FBI also found a fingerprint matching Routh's on a piece of tape attached to the rifle recovered from the fence line at Trump's golf course, prosecutors said.
Law enforcement revealed in the filing that it received information on Sept. 18, three days after the apparent assassination attempt, from a man who said Routh dropped off a box at his house several months earlier. After learning of the Sept. 15 incident, the man said he opened the box, which contained ammunition, a metal pipe, building materials, tools, four phones and several letters, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors noted in their request that Routh was convicted in December 2002 of possession of a weapon of mass destruction, a felony. He was also convicted in March 2010 of multiple felony counts of possession of stolen goods.
The incident outside of Trump's South Florida golf course has intensified scrutiny on the former president's protection and came just weeks after he was injured in an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, opened fire from the roof of a building near where Trump was speaking. The former president was shot in the ear and two others were wounded. Another rally attendee was killed.
The attack sparked immense criticism of the Secret Service and raised questions as to how Crooks was able to gain access to the roof so close to where Trump was speaking.
An internal review of the shooting by the Secret Service found there were multiple communications issues with law enforcement at the site and a "lack of due diligence" by the Secret Service.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said Friday that Trump has the "highest levels" of protection," and he praised agents for their work in thwarting another attack on the former president.
"No shots were fired at the former president. The former president wasn't exposed to where he was on the golf course," he said of the incident earlier this month. "The procedures work, the redundancies work, so that high level of protection is working."