Suspect claims he ‘attempted to assassinate Donald Trump,’ FBI says

Washington — The FBI revealed Monday that the man arrested in connection with the apparent assassination attempt Former President Donald Trump had a list of dates and locations in his vehicle earlier this month where the former president had appeared or was expected to appear, and a cellphone found in his vehicle showed searches for how to get from West Palm Beach to Mexico.

The FBI said in the filing that Ryan Wesley Routh, identified as the suspect in the incident, had left a handwritten letter to a man months earlier, addressed to “Dear World,” that read: “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I failed. I did my best and gave all the courage I could muster.”

The details were revealed in a court filing from federal prosecutors requesting that Routh remain in custody until his trial. A hearing on the Justice Department’s request is scheduled for Monday morning in federal court. Routh has remained in custody since his arrest just over a week ago.

Routh was charged with two federal firearms offenses after the apparent assassination attempt on Trump. The Secret Service said Trump was not injured after an agent spotted a man’s face in the brush, later identified as Routh, and a rifle along the fence outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15.

Federal authorities said no shots were fired at Trump while he was on the golf course, but the officer shot the suspect, who fled.

CBS News has reached out to Routh’s attorney for comment.

Prosecutors said in their latest filing that the suspect was on the green of hole 6 and Trump was playing hole 5 when the Secret Service agent opened fire. Trump was quickly removed from the area after the shots were fired, according to the filing.

The FBI found an AK-47-style rifle with a scope and an extended magazine in the fence. The weapon was loaded with 11 rounds, according to court documents, and the rifle’s serial number was obliterated and illegible. Secret Service agents also found a digital camera, a backpack and a reusable shopping bag hanging from the fence, prosecutors said.

The backpack and shopping bag contained plates “capable of stopping small arms fire,” according to the file.

Routh was arrested about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away after a witness on the golf course shared a description of the vehicle and license plate, prosecutors said. During a search of the SUV, a Nissan Xterra, the FBI found additional license plates, six cellphones, 12 pairs of gloves, a Hawaiian driver’s license in Routh’s name and documents, according to court records. The FBI said the SUV’s license plate was not registered to that vehicle.

One of the phones contained a Google search for how to get from Palm Beach County, Florida, where Trump’s golf course is located, to Mexico, prosecutors said. Among the documents was a handwritten list of dates in August, September and October and locations where Trump had appeared or was scheduled to go, according to court records.

Cellphone records obtained by the FBI for two of the phones found in the vehicle showed that the suspect had traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach on Aug. 14, prosecutors said. The records also showed that for several days and at multiple times between Aug. 18 and Sept. 15, the day of the incident, Routh’s cellphone accessed towers near the Trump International Golf Course and Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s South Florida residence, according to court records.

The FBI also found a fingerprint matching Routh’s on a piece of duct tape attached to the rifle recovered from the fence at Trump’s golf course, prosecutors said.

Law enforcement said in the filing that they received a tip on Sept. 18, three days after the apparent assassination attempt, from a man who said Routh had dropped off a box at his home several months earlier. After learning of the Sept. 15 incident, the man said he opened the box, which contained ammunition, a metal pipe, construction materials, tools, four phones and several letters, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors noted in their motion that Routh was convicted in December 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, a felony. He was also convicted in March 2010 of several counts of possession of stolen property.

The incident outside Trump’s golf course in South Florida has intensified scrutiny of the former president’s protection and came just weeks after he was injured in a attempted assassination at rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooksopened fire from the roof of a building near where Trump was speaking. The former president was shot in the ear and two other people were injured. Another rallygoer was killed.

The attack drew widespread criticism of the Secret Service and raised questions about how Crooks was able to access the rooftop so close to where Trump was speaking.

Secret Service launches internal investigation into shooting I found that there was multiple communication problems with law enforcement on the scene and a “lack of due diligence” on the part of the Secret Service.

Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said Friday that Trump was receiving the “highest levels of protection” and praised agents for their work in thwarting another attack on the former president.

“There was no shot fired at the former president. The former president was not exposed to where he was on the golf course,” he said of the incident earlier this month. “The procedures work, the terminations work, so that high level of protection works.”