Jury selection began on Monday for the trial of Ryan Wesley Routh, the man who was charged with the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump last year.
Newsweek reached out to a public defender who has represented Routh and the White House for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Prosecutors have charged Routh, 59, with attempting to kill Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course on September 15, 2024, just months after a separate attempted assassin grazed Trump’s ear during a shooting at a Pennsylvania campaign rally.
What To Know
Jury selection began in the trial on Monday at the Fort Pierce, Florida, federal courthouse. It is being overseen by Judge Aileen Cannon, appointed by the president during his first term in office.
Routh, who is not a lawyer, is representing himself rather than relying on the public defenders who were assigned to provide him with legal representation. Cannon has allowed him to represent himself but has required his court-appointed attorneys to remain as standby counsel, according to the Associated Press.
ABC News reported that Cannon rejected some questions from Routh about Trump’s remarks that the U.S. could annex Greenland and the country’s stance on Palestine, as she viewed them as “really off base” with “no relevance to the jury selection process.”
On the day of the alleged attempted assassination, Routh was spotted by a member of Trump’s Secret Service protective detail as he protruded through the golf course fence line. Secret Service opened fire, causing him to drop his weapons and flee without firing. He was arrested in a neighboring county. Trump was not injured.
A federal grand jury indicted him on charges including assassination and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, to which he pleaded not guilty. He faces life in prison.
FBI agents found near where he had been hiding at the golf course a SKS semiautomatic rifle with a scope attached and an extended magazine, a backpack and a reusable shopping bag containing a plate capable of stopping small-arms fire, according to the Department of Justice. They also allegedly found documents containing a list of dates and venues where Trump had appeared or was expected to appear.
In a court filing last week, Routh challenged Trump to a round of golf, writing, “A round of golf with the racist pig, he wins he can execute me, I win I get his job.”
Jury Selection May Be Challenging: Former Federal Prosecutor
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek it may be difficult to select a jury in this case.
“Finding jurors who can put aside their personal and political views of the president won’t be easy, especially because Routh is representing himself and has no experience with jury selection,” Rahmani said.
The government has a “strong” case against him, Rahmani said, noting that they have “the weapon and ammunition, surveillance video, and written and verbal admissions by the defendant.”
“Defendants who represent themselves have a very conviction rate, and I don’t expect this case to be any different. It’s never a good idea to proceed pro se, especially in a high profile case against experienced federal prosecutors. Having Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump and who ruled in Trump’s favor at ever possible turn in the classified documents case, doesn’t help either,” he said.
“Routh’s only real chance of acquittal or a hung jury is a mental health defense or jury nullification. Otherwise, this will be a quick guilty verdict, and the only real question is what kind of circus will we see before we get there?”
Who Is Ryan Routh?
Routh is from North Carolina, but also lived in Hawaii prior to the shooting.
He had also fought alongside Ukrainian soldiers in the Russia-Ukraine war. He discussed his involvement in the conflict during an interview with Newsweek Romania in 2022.
“The question as far as why I’m here…to me, a lot of the other conflicts are gray, but this conflict is definitely black and white,” Routh said. “This is about good versus evil. This is a storybook, you know, any movie we’ve ever watched, this is definitely evil against good.”
He had been charged in several other cases before the alleged attempted assassination, including a 1997 larceny case.
How Judge Aileen Cannon Got the Case
The case isn’t the first that Cannon has overseen involving Trump. She also oversaw the president’s classified documents case.
In that case, he was accused of mishandling classified documents taken from the White House after he left office in 2021. He pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case, and Cannon, who some analysts criticized for what they viewed as pro-Trump rulings, ultimately dismissed the case.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump said on X after the incident: “I was playing golf with some of my friends. It was on a Sunday morning and very peaceful, very beautiful weather. Everything was beautiful. It’s a nice place to be. And all of a sudden we heard shots being fired in the air. And I guess, probably four or five, and it sounded like bullets. But what do I know about that? But Secret Service knew immediately it was bullets, and they grabbed me.”
Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a September 2024 statement: “Violence targeting public officials endangers everything our country stands for, and the Department of Justice will use every available tool to hold Ryan Routh accountable for the attempted assassination of former President Trump charged in the indictment. The Justice Department will not tolerate violence that strikes at the heart of our democracy, and we will find and hold accountable those who perpetrate it. This must stop.”
What Happens Next
Four weeks have been set aside for the trial, and jury selection is expected to take about three days, according to the AP. Opening statements are scheduled to begin on Thursday.
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