Prosecutors said the note and other evidence found at the scene show a need for Routh to be detained while the government builds its case against him.
A court document submitted by federal prosecutors on Monday showed that Ryan Routh, the suspect in the alleged second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, penned a handwritten note that said it “was an assassination attempt” on the former president.
Routh dropped off a box at a person’s home that included the letter.
Law enforcement officials were contacted on Sept. 18, or three days after he was arrested, who said that Routh dropped off the box at his location in the months prior to the incident. The witness opened the box on Sept. 15, finding ammunition, phones, and various latters.
The note confirming it was an assassination attempt was photographed by the witness, prosecutors say. Soon after Routh was apprehended last week, the FBI released a statement saying it was an attempt on the former president’s life and would be investigating the matter as such.
“He [the former President] ended relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has unraveled,” Routh also wrote.
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Prosecutors found “a notebook with dozens of pages filled with names and phone numbers pertaining to Ukraine, discussions about how to join combat on behalf of Ukraine.”
Posts made by Routh on X and other social media sites show that he was an avid supporter of Ukraine in the ongoing Russia–Ukraine conflict, even posting images and videos of himself in Kyiv and other areas in Ukraine since the war started. He also made critical comments about the former president, including several in July that referenced the first assassination attempt.
Cellphone records from two of the recovered phones show that Routh traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach on Aug. 14, 2024.
Routh faces federal firearms charges in connection to the Sept. 15 incident. Prosecutors say that Routh, 58, camped out near Trump’s Florida golf course for 12 hours before his gun barrel was spotted by a Secret Service agent, who then fired at the suspect before he fled the scene.
Prosecutors said the note and other evidence found at the scene show a need for Routh to be detained while the government builds its case against him. A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday morning at a federal court in Florida.
“Because the facts are offered for the limited purpose of supporting the United States’s request for pretrial detention, the facts in this written proffer do not set forth all of the information and evidence known to the United States in this ongoing investigation,” the court documents state.
Authorities also discovered an SKS-style rifle with 11 rounds, including one round in the chamber, according to the court papers. Officials previously said that the suspect did not fire any shots and had no direct line of sight to Trump, who was golfing at the time of the incident. The former president also was not harmed.
In July, Trump survived his first assassination attempt and was shot in the ear by a gunman who fired at a rally while he was speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania, prompting questions about the Secret Service’s ability to protect him.
The FBI said that when its agents attempted to interview Routh after he was detained on Sept. 15, he invoked his right to an attorney. Routh has not entered a plea.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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