by WorldTribune Staff, September 24, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
For someone who was essentially broke, would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh sure got around.
Routh was able to travel the world. How?
Fox News host Jesse Watters asked that question in a recent broadcast. Similar questions about the July 13 attempted assassin of former President Trump have likewise gone unanswered and, for most corporate media, gone even unasked.
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Meanwhile, legal analysts say getting an attempted murder charge to stick against Routh may be tough because he never got off a shot on Sept. 15 even though he set up his assassin's nest some 11 hours before former President Donald Trump hit the links at this Trump International golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“With what we know, with what’s public at this time and what’s in the complaint, I do believe it would be difficult to make out an attempted murder charge, whether it’s using a state statute or a federal statute,” defense lawyer David Tarras of the Fort Lauderdale-based Rossen Law Firms, who defends clients facing federal and state prosecution, told The Washington Times.
To escalate the charges to attempted assassination or attempted murder, federal and state officials would have to show that Routh made plans to try to kill Trump and took further steps to carry out the crime, Tarras said.
Cellphone data, the FBI said, showed Routh in the vicinity of the golf course for 12 hours before a Secret Service agent spotted the muzzle of his rifle protruding from the tree line. The agent fired at him, and a witness saw Routh flee the scene in his car.
“They have to show that it was more than mere preparation,” Tarras said. “There has to be a substantial step toward the completion of a crime.”
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said an attempted murder charge requires an intent to kill someone and taking a direct step to commit the crime.
“I think lying in wait for 12 hours with a firearm is enough,” Rahmani said.
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Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, said an attempted murder charge against Routh may not stick.
Aronberg, a Democrat, said a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a Secret Service agent may be the most serious charge that can win a conviction.
“This is not an easy case for an attempted murder charge because you have to not only prepare and plan, you have to have a substantial step towards making it happen. And this guy will have a lot of defenses because he never fired a shot,” Aronberg told NewsRadio 610 WIOD.
In the J13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, America First Legal (AFL) has field a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the release of records relating to the “catastrophic failure” of security where Thomas Crooks was able to "fire a relatively simple shot that came within an inch of killing” Trump.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday after the Secret Service and DHS failed to respond to multiple FOIA requests, AFL accused the agencies of "illegally concealing government records related to the first assassination attempt of President Trump in Pennsylvania in July."
AFL requested documents pertaining to the Secret Service's staffing shortages, hiring and employment standards and all communications to or from DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas and two senior DHS officials, Kristie Canegallo and Jonathan Davidson. According to AFL, the Secret Service refused to move on its document requests because it wasn’t urgent and constituted "no threat to the life or safety of anyone.”
"On July 13, the American people watched in horror as a lunatic attempted to assassinate former President, and current candidate for President, Donald Trump," Gene Hamilton, AFL senior counsel said in a statement.
"Today, there is widespread and bipartisan acknowledgment that there were catastrophic failures that tragic day and in the weeks and months ahead of it. We are committed to obtaining these records so that the American people can see for themselves exactly what senior DHS leadership was prioritizing in its mission, and why more resources were not devoted to the protection of President Donald J. Trump," Hamilton added.
