Day after Charlie Kirk’s death, Florida jury hears case against Trump’s alleged assassin

FORT PIERCE — Ryan Routh’s case has veered toward the surreal from the start.

Found hidden in the shrubbery of Donald Trump’s golf course with a semiautomatic rifle and bag of mini-sausages, the man accused of plotting to kill Trump has since fired his lawyers, requested strippers to his jail cell, suggested a fistfight with the president in lieu of a trial and proposed calling a former sexual partner to tell jurors about his gentle nature.

But as jurors returned to the Fort Pierce federal courthouse for opening statements on Sept. 11, they did so less than a day after a fatal shooting that rocked the nation. Between the end of jury selection and the start of opening statements, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated on a college campus in Utah, becoming the latest victim of the political violence prosecutors say Trump narrowly escaped himself.

Ryan Routh faces life in prison if convicted in Trump assassination plot

Investigators say Routh traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach on Aug. 14, 2024, despite having no known ties to South Florida. According to data retrieved from his cellphone, Routh went to Trump International Golf Club and Mar-a-Lago multiple times during the month before the suspected assassination attempt.

His internet history included scores of searches about Trump’s schedule and Secret Service responses to previous assassination attempts, according to court filings. In a WhatsApp chat, he discussed “sniper concealment in President Kennedy assassination” and, a week before the incident, asked for a price estimate for tracking Trump’s airplane.

Prosecutors say Routh staked out Trump International for 12 hours, aiming a GoPro camera and rifle at the sixth hole while Trump teed off at the fifth. A photograph of the site showed Routh’s abandoned rifle, equipped with a scope and propped between a bag and a backpack hung on the fence. Both bags contained bulletproof plates.

Prosecutors have pointed to the plates as evidence that Routh expected return fire, suggesting he intended to pull the trigger once Trump came into his line of sight. Before Trump did, a Secret Service agent on a golf cart swept the area and spotted Routh.

The agent greeted the gunman, then noticed the barrel of a rifle “aimed directly at him.” The agent jumped out of the golf car, drew his weapon and began to back away. Prosecutors say the agent saw the barrel move, at which point he fired several shots at the gunman.

None landed. The agent…