Alleged would-be Donald Trump assassin Ryan Wesley Routh will stand trial on charges of trying to kill the former president just days after the Nov. 5 election, a South Florida federal judge ordered Tuesday.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump appointee who dismissed one of four criminal cases against the 45th president earlier this year — set a trial date of Nov. 18 “or as soon thereafter as the case may be called.”
Cannon — who was randomly assigned to Routh’s case — also ordered the defense team to let her know by Nov. 17 at the latest if their client opts to plead guilty.
Routh was arrested Sept. 15 after investigators say he hid for nearly 12 hours in a makeshift sniper’s nest with an SKS rifle off the sixth green of Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach waiting for the 78-year-old Republican nominee to appear.
Federal criminal trials often take place many months, if not more than a year, after an arrest — making Cannon’s schedule highly unusual.
Routh was arrested after a Secret Service agent scouting ahead of Trump spotted the muzzle of the firearm through bushes and a chain-link fence.
The agent opened fire toward the hideout, allegedly prompting Routh to flee. He was picked up by cops following a traffic stop along Interstate 95 in neighboring Martin County.
Prosecutors have revealed that Routh allegedly wrote a letter that he left with an associate copping to his plot to kill Trump.
“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” the chilling letter read.
“I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”
Routh — who will remain behind bars pending trial — has been charged with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, possession of a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
He has pleaded not guilty and faces up to life in prison if convicted on the top charge.
Routh’s assassination attempt was the second against Trump in 64 days after Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, shot and wounded Trump in the ear during a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pa. A Secret Service counter-sniper killed Crooks on the spot.
Routh’s son, Oran, was separately arrested a week after his dad in an unrelated North Carolina child pornography case.
During a Tuesday hearing, Oran Routh asked the judge in that case to set his trial for December, a request to which Magistrate Judge Patrick Auld agreed before releasing the younger Routh to home confinement.
