Left: Donald Trump playing golf at Turnberry golf course during his visit to the UK in May 2023. 71992040 (Press Association via AP Images). Right: Ryan Routh speaks about what he was doing in Ukraine (Newsweek Romania).
A Florida man who is already facing a federal case for attempting to assassinate Donald Trump last year has now been hit with state charges for attempted first-degree murder and terrorism, with the move coming “after 206 days of stonewalling” by the Biden administration, asserted the Sunshine State’s Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier on Thursday.
“Today, my office is officially charging Ryan Routh for attempting to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump,” wrote Uthmeier in an X post, which was accompanied by a video of him announcing Routh’s new charges.
“We now have a federal government willing to work together,” Uthmeier proclaimed after criticizing former President Joe Biden and the past administration for trying to “frustrate our efforts” and “block” his office’s attempts to charge Routh.
“Attempting to take the life of a former president and a leading presidential candidate isn’t just an attack on one man, this was a political attack against our Republican form of government and our shared American values,” Uthmeier added. “We cannot allow justice to be delayed or denied.”
As Law&Crime has previously reported, Routh was arrested in Florida in September after a Secret Service agent allegedly spotted him with a rifle “in the exterior brush along the fence line near the 6th hole putting green” at the Trump International Golf Club as the former president golfed one hole behind. Authorities have said that the agent opened fire, leading Routh to flee the scene in a Nissan Xterra.
After his arrest, authorities said they found a letter addressed to the “world” stating that “[t]his was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you.” Routh had been camped out for some 12 hours waiting for Trump to golf, according to court documents. Routh was later indicted on federal charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, and using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
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Uthmeier on Thursday credited FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi for their “leadership” and ability to “work with the states to pursue justice” and file more charges, per his video and X post.
Today, my office is officially charging Ryan Routh for attempting to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.
Thanks to the leadership of @AGPamBondi and @FBIDirectorKash, we now have a federal government willing to work with the states to pursue justice. pic.twitter.com/HFuI2W4tdx
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) April 10, 2025
Routh faces life in prison if convicted of the attempted assassination. He’s due to appear in court on the federal charges in September.
Investigators later said that a witness statement from someone identified in court filings as T.C.M. was instrumental in identifying and detaining Routh. On Monday, Routh filed court documents in his federal case claiming that allowing statements from that witness — who fingered him as the individual with a high-powered rifle who was spotted at the president’s golf course on the day of his alleged assassination attempt — would be unconstitutional.
The case is before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee whose rulings in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case largely cut that prosecution off at the knees.
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