By Patricia Mazzei
Florida officials filed charges earlier this week against the man accused of trying to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course in September, defying federal prosecutors who had asked the state to suspend its investigation while their own moved forward.
The state charged Ryan W. Routh with attempted felony murder, citing injuries that a child sustained in a crash on Interstate 95 shortly after police officers shut down the highway in pursuit of Routh. He has pleaded not guilty to federal charges, including the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate.
Ashley Moody, the Florida attorney general, and Gov. Ron DeSantis, both Republicans, have repeatedly criticized the Biden Justice Department over its investigation of Routh, questioning federal prosecutors’ credibility because until recently, they were also prosecuting Trump.
DeSantis began the state’s parallel investigation two days after the shooting, saying the federal agencies could not be trusted. In October, Moody sued the Justice Department, asking a federal judge to stop the department from blocking the state’s investigation after federal authorities said theirs should proceed first.
Moody’s complaint said that among other things, federal officials did not want Florida to interview witnesses while the federal investigation was going on.
Having dueling federal and state investigations could complicate them both, especially because the federal system does not allow for depositions as the state system does, said David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Miami who is now a defense lawyer. When a witness provides statements to multiple investigators, defense lawyers become more likely to find inconsistencies in the testimonies that could allow them to create reasonable doubt.
On Wednesday, Moody reiterated that Florida officials are “within our right” to pursue state charges against Routh.
“There were many questions surrounding the agency prosecuting the president-elect and at the same time investigating his attempted murder,” Moody said of the Justice Department at a news conference in Stuart, near where Routh was stopped after fleeing the Trump International Golf Club on Sept. 15.
She and DeSantis acknowledged that once Trump takes office next month, their perspective on the federal investigation will change.
“The tide will turn on January 20th,” DeSantis wrote on the social media platform X. The governor had been scheduled to announce the arrest warrant in person, but could not because of bad weather in Tallahassee.
Federal prosecutors say that Routh appeared to have surveyed Trump’s golf course for about a month before Sept. 15. That day, he positioned himself outside a fence near the sixth hole. A Secret Service agent on a golf cart scouting the property one hole ahead of Trump saw the barrel of a semiautomatic rifle and fired.
Acting on witness testimony, officials identified the car in which the suspect fled and pulled over Routh heading north along Interstate 95 in neighboring Martin County.
According to the 18-page arrest warrant, five cars crashed about 4 miles south of where sheriff’s deputies had detained Routh. A 6-year-old girl suffered “life-threatening” injuries in the crash, the warrant says.
Moody said those injuries and Routh’s criminal conduct, “which we believe rises to the level of domestic terrorism,” justified the attempted felony murder charge.
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