WEST PALM BEACH:The man charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump after allegedly positioning himself with a rifle outside one of the former president’s Florida golf courses is due to appear in court on Monday to enter a plea to five federal charges.
Ryan Routh, 58, is expected to plead not guilty to charges that include attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate. He has already been ordered to remain in jail to await a trial.
Prosecutors allege Routh intended to kill Trump as he golfed at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15. Routh, a struggling roofing contractor, condemned the Republican presidential candidate in a self-published book and dropped off a letter left months earlier with an associate referencing an attempted assassination on Trump, prosecutors allege.
“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” the suspect wrote, according to a court filing by prosecutors.
Lawyers for Routh suggested at a Sept. 23 court hearing that the letter may have been an attempt at gaining publicity and highlighted what they called Routh’s efforts to promote democracy in Ukraine and Taiwan.
Routh hid outside a fence overlooking the sixth hole of the course, where authorities found an AK-47-style rifle, a bag of snacks, a digital camera and bags containing metal plates meant to withstand return fire by the US Secret Service, according to prosecutors.
A Secret Service agent patrolling the course ahead of Trump spotted Routh and opened fire after noticing the rifle sticking through a fence. Routh fled and was later arrested along a Florida highway, prosecutors allege.
He was initially charged with gun-related offenses. An indictment last week added the attempted assassination charge along with assault on a federal officer and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
The Florida incident was the second apparent assassination attempt on Trump in a roughly two-month span, raising questions about protection of the candidate ahead of the Nov. 5 election. A gunman wounded Trump’s right ear and killed an attendee at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 before being killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Trump has sought to turn the assassination attempts into a campaign issue, alleging the Justice Department, which charged Trump in two criminal cases last year, should not be trusted to handle the investigation.
Trump suspect to appear in court on attempted assassination charge
https://arab.news/zhh8v
Trump suspect to appear in court on attempted assassination charge
- Routh expected to plead not guilty to five federal charges
- Prosecutors allege Routh intended to kill Trump at golf course
Macron vows stronger cooperation with Nigeria after mass kidnappings
- Macron wrote on X that France “will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations”
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday that France will step up cooperation with Nigeria after speaking with his counterpart, as the West African country faces a surge in abductions.
Nigeria has been wracked by a wave of kidnappings in recent weeks, including the capture of over 300 school children two weeks ago that shook Africa’s most populous country, already weary from chronic violence.
Macron wrote on X that the move came at Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s request, saying France “will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations,” while urging other countries to “step up their engagement.”
“No one can remain a spectator” to what is happening in Nigeria, the French president said.
Nigeria has drawn heightened attention from Washington in recent weeks, after US President Donald Trump said in November that the United States was prepared to take military action there to counter the killing of Christians.
US officials, while not contradicting Trump, have since instead emphasized other US actions on Nigeria including security cooperation with the government and the prospect of targeted sanctions.
Kidnappings for ransom by armed groups have plagued Nigeria since the 2014 abduction of 276 school girls in the town of Chibok by Boko Haram militants.
The religiously diverse country is the scene of a number of long-brewing conflicts that have killed both Christians and Muslims, often indiscriminately.
Many scholars say the reality is more nuanced, with conflicts rooted in struggles for scarce resources rather than directly related to religion.
