The legal defense team for Ryan Wesley Routh, who allegedly tried to assassinate President Donald Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach, wants to test fire the rifle he is accused of intending to use in the thwarted assassination plot.
At a status hearing Friday in a Florida federal courtroom, the alleged would-be Trump assassin's attorneys announced that they wish to call upon a ballistics expert to analyze whether the weapon is "even operable," according to local WPTV.
"Is it your theory that the weapon could not have fired within the distance alleged?" Judge Aileen Cannon, who's presiding over the criminal proceedings, asked.
Defense lawyer Kristy Militello indicated they wanted to test the rifle for operability, accuracy, and range. "It is old, and we want our expert to determine: Is it operable, is it accurate, what kind of distance can it reach?" Militello explained.
Prosecutors objected to the proposal, calling the requested test firing "irregular, unsafe, and never been used." Investigators did not conduct any testing of the rifle, per WPTV, because shots were never fired at the scene.
A ruling on testing the rifle in question should happen soon.
The two-week jury trial is set to commence on September 8, nearly a year after the assassination attempt, the second failed attack on Trump following the first one at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. That time, a bullet grazed Trump's ear.
On September 15, 2024, a Secret Service agent assigned to Trump's security detail spotted the barrel of a rifle poking through the shrubbery while patrolling the golf course's perimeter, according to court documents. Routh, who is accused of lying in wait for more than 12 hours on the perimeter of the Trump International Golf Club in hopes of assassinating the then-presidential candidate, was later apprehended after he allegedly fled from the property.
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A loaded "SKS-style rifle" with a scope was found in the area where Routh allegedly staked out. The serial number on the rifle was obliterated and "unreadable to the naked eye." Probable cause statements say that such a firearm is not manufactured in the state of Florida and must have traveled there in interstate or foreign commerce.
Parties have been arguing over scheduling and the discovery process. According to court filings, earlier this week, Assistant U.S. Attorney John C. Shipley claimed that the defense "has not identified a single item that it reasonably expects to use in its case-in-chief at trial." In response, Militello asserted that the defense is "not required to produce anything at all."
Meanwhile, the prosecution has prepared photographs of the SKS rifle and of the obliterated serial numbers to be entered as exhibits at trial.
Trump told reporters on Thursday he would be willing to release reports on both assassination attempts. "I want to find the answers," Trump said while signing an executive order in the Oval Office, noting that the lack of information about the incidents "makes me think a little bit."
Butler gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks had three mobile apps, "two of which were foreign, supposedly, and who has the biggest white-shoe law firm in Pennsylvania, even though they don't live in necessarily a white-shoe area," Trump speculated. "What's that all about?"
The president also pointed to Routh allegedly possessing numerous cell phones, some with "strange markings."
"The other one had seven or six cell phones, and I don't have six cell phones," Trump remarked. "Why would somebody have six cell phones? [...] It's a lot of cellphones, and a couple of them had some strange markings on them."
Coupled with "an FBI that wouldn't report on it—they didn't want to say why—I would say that could be suspicious," Trump said.
"I want to find out," Trump reiterated. "I mean, maybe there's a reason that we shouldn't. So, I don't want to get too far ahead of my skis. But, yeah, I would be very willing to release that."
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