Man charged in Trump assassination plot pleads not guilty

The man accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course has pleaded not guilty to the charges in a federal court.

Prosecutors say Ryan Routh, 58, was spotted with a rifle as he hid in the bushes near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach earlier this month.

A Secret Service officer protecting the former president allegedly spotted his rifle barrel poking through a fence and opened fire. Routh fled and was later arrested on Interstate 95, a main highway through the state.

In addition to the attempted assassination of Trump, Routh has been charged with firearms offences and assaulting an officer.

On Monday, Routh appeared in court handcuffed and wearing a brownish prison jumpsuit, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

After each count was read to him, he shook his head in acknowledgment of the charges.

His attorneys entered a plea of not guilty and requested a trial by jury. The hearing lasted around five minutes.

If convicted, Routh faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on the assassination charge.

An earlier court filing showed that Routh had written a note months ago saying he intended to kill Trump.

In a pre-written letter addressed to "The World" and sent to an unnamed witness months earlier, Routh appears to pre-empt a failed assassination attempt on the former president.

"I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster," the letter reads, with the offer of a cash reward to anyone "who can complete the job".

Routh has been held in prison in Florida since his arrest on 15 September.

He has a long criminal record, including a felony gun conviction for owning a fully automatic machine gun, and was barred from owning firearms as a result.

He was active in recruiting volunteers to fight in Ukraine’s war against Russia, and had a range of eclectic political views, although he was registered as a Democrat and made anti-Trump posts online.

Routh's alleged plot was the second attempt on Trump's life after Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old armed with an AR-style rifle, opened fire on the former president during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July.

Crooks was shot dead by counter-snipers.

The Secret Service, the government agency tasked with protecting the president and other politicians and their family members, came under heavy criticism for allowing a gunman to get so close to the former president.

Trump and his allies have complained about his Secret Service detail. On Monday the former president said that his protection had been scaled back, forcing him to hold an event in Wisconsin over the weekend inside, instead of outdoors in a venue with a larger capacity.

The Secret Service said it was shortstaffed due to the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The agency is responsible for protecting foreign leaders during US visits, and more than 140 were expected at last week's UN meeting.