Ryan Routh, the man accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign – weeks after the then-candidate was wounded in the ear in a separate assassination attempt – has given his opening statement at his trial.
Routh, 59, who is representing himself, allegedly tried to assassinate Trump on September 15, 2024 while the former and future president was golfing at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
He is charged with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated number.
If convicted he could face life in prison.
During the opening statement period, Routh was twice cut off by the judge while he discussed prehistoric man, questioned the nature of “intent,” and invoked Russian president Vladimir Putin and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Judge Aileen Cannon shut down the opening statements and sent the jury out of the room, after which she reportedly warned Routh to stay on topic, according to CBS 12.
When the jury returned, Routh reportedly continued his monologue, which caused Cannon to interrupt him again. She sent away the jury, told Routh he was in violation of her direct orders, and was forced to forfeit the rest of his time.
In the approximately 10 minutes he spoke, he managed to reference evolution, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Adolf Hitler.
The prosecution entered their opening arguments, painting Routh’s alleged plan to assassinate the president as “carefully crafted and dead serious.”
According to prosecutors, Routh used 10 phones, three aliases, stolen license plates, and a string of deceptions to put him in a position where he could take a shot at Trump.
Their witness list includes a Secret Service agent who they say saw Routh in the bushes at Trump’s golf club, and a good Samaritan who reported seeing Routh running from the area.
They painted Routh as predatory, claiming he stalked Trump to learn his schedule, even going so far as to watch the president from Palm Beach International Airport while he was preparing to leave on official flights.
Prosecutors say he allegedly waited for hours with a rifle waiting to get a shot on Trump. He has been charged with attempted assassination and assaulting a federal officer.
Secret Service agent Robert Fercano, who says he saw Routh in the bushes at Trump’s golf club, was the first wtiness called to testify.
He told the court that he came within five feet of Routh’s rifle before he realized that the man was armed.
“The barrel of the AK was pointed directly at my face,” Fercano said. “I was in fear for President Trump’s life.”
Fercano said he was scouting ahead of Trump’s golf party to secure upcoming holes, and noted “abnormalities” near the sixth hole, according to ABC 6.
“I encountered what appeared to be the face of an individual,” he said. “I attempted to initiate contact by being friendly with the individual, and said, ‘Hey.'”
He said the then noticed an “object to the left of me beginning to move.”
“I heard what sounded like a groan and the subject smiled at me,” Fercano said. “My initial thought was that this was potentially a homeless person camping out.”
He said he then noted a black object protruding from the fence line.
“Upon further scanning, I had identified the weapon to be a Soviet-style weapon,” he said. “I noticed the front sight post was facing me.”
The Secret Service agent said the barrel of the rifle was “continuously moving in my direction,” which prompted him to pull his firearm out and point it towards the rifle.
A recording of the frantic security calls made by Fercano were played for the court.
“Mogul on five green,” Fercano says on the call, referencing Trump’s call sign. “Shots fired, shots fired, shots fired. Individual … with a gun.”
In the recording, he describes the rifle as an “AK-style weapon.”
“The individual is inside the tree line. All units be advised that looked like an AK-47 style weapon,” he says in the call.
He recalled that at that point Routh fled the scene. Fercano said he then searched the area and found Routh’s rifle and body armor.
The spot Routh allegedly chose for his sniper’s nest was a well-known sport used by paparazzi to photograph Trump while he’s golfing, according to The Daily Telegraph.
After Fercano’s initial contact with Routh, Trump was escorted off the golf course by his Secret Service protection.
Routh allegedly fled the scene in a vehicle, but a witness spotted him and took a photo of the vehicle’s license plate.
Using the vehicle information collected from the witness, Martin County Sheriff’s Officials were able to stop Routh’s vehicle and force him out of the car at gun point.
At that point, Routh was detained as a person of interest. Seventeen mobile phones were found in his car, and a rifle with a removed serial number, a sniping scope, armor plated backpacks, and a plastic bag with food and a GoPro camera were found at his sniping perch. Routh was unarmed when he was arrested.
Routh has a criminal record dating back to at least 2002, when he was convicted in Guilford County, North Carolina, on one felony count of possession of a weapon of mass destruction, according to a review of state court records.
The Greensboro News & Record reported at the time that a man of the same name and the same age as Routh had fled from police during a traffic stop and holed up inside a local business, United Roofing, triggering a three-hour stand-off.
The weapon of mass destruction charge was brought against Routh over a fully automatic machine gun he had, according to the News & Record.
After his arrest, investigators and reporters examined his social media presence, which revealed he was a disgruntled former Trump supporter who began to grow sympathetic to President Joe Biden.
“While you were my choice in 2106 [sic], I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate,” he wrote in July 2020 on X. “But we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving. I will be glad when you gone.”
In a post from April 2024, he tagged Biden’s presidential account and said the campaign should be “called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA … make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose.”
The jury, which was selected on Wednesday, includes five men and seven women with four alternates. All but two of the jurors are white.
