Washington— The FBI revealed that someone was arrested in connection with it try to kill the apparent in the former President Donald Trump earlier this month has been in the vehicle a list of dates and places where the former president has appeared or is expected to appear, and a cell phone found in the vehicle showing searches how to get from West Palm Beach to Mexico.
The FBI said in a filing that Ryan Wesley Routh, who was identified as a suspect in the incident, had left a handwritten letter with someone a month earlier, addressed to “Dear World,” which said: “This is an attempt to kill Donald Trump. But I failed you I have tried and give it all the gumption I can.
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The details were revealed in a court filing from federal prosecutors who asked Routh to remain in custody through the courts. Routh appeared before a federal magistrate judge for a pre-trial hearing on Monday, where he was denied bail and ordered to remain in custody. Federal prosecutors revealed during the same proceeding plan to ask The grand jury returned a new indictment charging Routh with attempted murder of a political figure, which carries a potential maximum sentence of life in prison.
Routh has charged with two federal firearms offenses after an apparent assassination attempt on Trump. The Secret Service said Trump was unharmed after agents spotted a man’s face in brush, later identified as Routh, and a gun along a fence line outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on September 15.
Federal authorities said no shots were fired at Trump while he was on the golf course, but the agent shot the suspect, who fled.
CBS News has reached out to Routh’s attorney for comment.
Prosecutors said in the latest filing that the suspect was in line with the 6-hole green, and Trump was playing on the 5th hole when Secret Service agents opened fire. Trump was quickly removed from the area after the shots were fired, according to the filing.
The FBI found in the fence line an AK-47 style rifle with an attached and extended magazine. The gun was loaded with 11 rounds, according to court filings, and the serial number on the gun was obliterated and unreadable. Secret Service agents also found a digital camera, a backpack and a reusable shopping bag hanging from a fence, prosecutors said.
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Backpacks and shopping bags contain plates that “may prevent small arms fire,” according to the filing.
Routh was arrested about 50 miles away, after witnesses on the golf course shared a description of the vehicle and its license plate, prosecutors said. While searching the SUV, a Nissan Xterra, the FBI found additional license plates, six cell phones, 12 pairs of gloves, a Hawaii driver’s license in Routh’s name, and documents, according to court filings. The FBI said the license plate on the SUV was not registered to the vehicle.
One of the calls contained a Google search on how to travel from Palm Beach County, Florida, where Trump’s golf course is located, to Mexico, prosecutors said. Among the documents were handwritten lists of dates in August, September and October and places where Trump appeared or was expected to go, according to court records.
Cell site records obtained by the FBI for two phones found in the vehicle indicated that the suspect traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach on August 14, prosecutors said. The records also show that on several days and times from Aug. 18 to Sept. 15, the day of the incident, Routh’s cell phone accessed towers near the Trump International Golf Course and Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s South Florida home, according to the records. court filing.
The FBI also found fingerprints matching Routh’s on a piece of tape attached to a gun recovered from a fence line at Trump’s golf course, prosecutors said.
Law enforcement was revealed in the filing that received information on September 18, three days after the apparent attempt to kill, from someone who said Routh dropped a box at his house a few months earlier. After learning about the Sept. 15 incident, the man opened the box, which contained ammunition, metal pipes, building materials, tools, four phones and several letters, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors noted in their plea that Routh was convicted in December 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, a felony. He was also convicted in March 2010 of multiple felony charges of possession of stolen property.
The incident outside Trump’s golf course in South Florida has heightened scrutiny of the former president’s protection and comes just weeks after he was injured on attempted to kill in a public meeting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooksopened fire from the roof of the building near where Trump spoke. The former president was shot in the ear and two others were wounded. Another rally participant was killed.
The attack has sparked intense criticism of the Secret Service and questions about how Crooks were able to access the rooftops near where Trump was speaking.
An internal review of the shooting by the Secret Service meet there some communication problems with law enforcement on site and “lack of due diligence” by the Secret Service.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said Friday that Trump has the “highest level” of protection, and he praised agents for their work to prevent another attack on the former president.
“No shots were fired at the former president. The former president was not seen where he was on the golf course,” he said of the incident earlier this month. “Procedures work, redundancy works, so a high level of protection works.”
