Florida law enforcement will conduct an independent criminal probe into the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday, citing questions about the impartiality of the Justice Department’s prosecution of the former president in two criminal cases.
Mr. DeSantis said the state could charge Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, with attempted murder, which carries a life sentence, along with multiple additional charges spanning at least two counties and judicial circuits in the state.
Mr. Routh was arrested Sunday after the Secret Service spotted the muzzle of his AK-47 rifle protruding through the tree line along the sixth hole of the Trump International Golf Course, where Mr. Trump was playing.
He fled before firing any shots and was charged Monday in federal court with two felony firearms violations, but nothing more serious so far. The Secret Service and FBI are investigating the incident and prosecutors are weighing additional charges.
Mr. DeSantis said the state could move more easily to prosecute Mr. Routh, including a charge of attempted murder, because Florida has “the jurisdiction that’s more appropriate” to handle this case. The state, he insisted, will be “more transparent” than the federal government.
The governor, who ran against Mr. Trump in the GOP primary, questioned whether federal law enforcement should be left alone to investigate the incident. The Department of Justice, which oversees the FBI, is prosecuting Mr. Trump in two cases, including one in the Southern District of Florida in which they have charged Mr. Trump with improperly taking and storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the state probe taking place alongside the federal probe. The Secret Service is under the Department of Homeland Security.
Mr. DeSantis said the agencies may be less transparent because the investigation may reveal their own security lapses that exposed the former president twice in two months to an attempted assassin’s rifle.
“Do we honestly think this agency, these agencies, are the best to turn around and do this investigation on a potential assassin, that some of them may or may not want to be held accountable for if there was something they could have done better with security?” Mr. DeSantis said.
Mr. DeSantis said the investigation will be handled by Florida Attorney General Ashly Moody and will involve law enforcement from the involved jurisdictions.
The governor said the state probe would yield answers, unlike past federal investigations, including the recent attempt on Mr. Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania. Much is still unknown about the motive of the shooter and how security lapses allowed him onto a roof within a few hundred yards of Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump’s ear was grazed by a bullet, a rally attendee was killed and two others were seriously injured.
In Sunday’s incident, Mr. Routh hid in bushes near the golf course for 12 hours and was able to get within a few hundred yards of Mr. Trump. He did not have a line of sight on the former president, Secret Service officials said, because agents spotted him and fired at him before Mr. Trump reached the sixth hole.
Mr. Routh’s social media history shows he disliked Mr. Trump and, in a self-published book, called on Iran to assassinate him.
“It’s really important for the people of Florida, but also for our country, that we pursue the most serious charges that are on the books to hold this guy accountable,” Mr. DeSantis said.
“And to say you’re gonna do a couple of gun charges? That is not going to be sufficient. We have a very strong interest in holding the suspect accountable to the full extent of the law, and we are in a better position in the state of Florida to be able to provide answers to the public,” he said.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.