President Trump’s alleged near-assassin Ryan Routh is trying to dump his federal defense team, according to a new court filing.
‘Ryan Routh respectfully requests the Court set a hearing to terminate the representation of his appointed counsel and their office,’ the document filed in Florida federal court states.
Routh has been charged for attempting to assassinate Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course during the run-up to last year’s presidential election.
It’s unclear why he is now requesting to terminate his defense team, just months ahead of his scheduled trial set to begin in September.
In May Routh’s court-appointed lawyers tried to drop two of the charges against him on Second Amendment grounds.
Routh’s motion was signed by three federal public defenders.
It states that the government doesn’t object to certain ‘ex parte’ discussions between two parties about who would represent Routh.
But the government made known its objection to any such discussions about moving the trial date or granting a continuance.
Defense lawyers for Ryan Routh quietly visited Trump’s private golf course in West Palm Beach last month
Prosecutors have said Routh aimed a rifle at Trump from behind shrubbery on September 15, 2024.
The plot was foiled when Routh was spotted by a sharp-eyed Secret Service agent.
Federal authorities accuse Routh of aiming his rifle at the agent, who then opened fire while Trump was whisked away to safety from his Palm Beach golf course in September.
The action took place just a few hundreds yards away from where Trump was golfing on September 15, 2024, just weeks before the November elections.
Routh has denied the charges against him, pleading not guilty in the weeks after the incident.
The alleged would-be assassin’s attorneys were granted rare and extraordinary access to the course earlier this year.
Federal authorities accuse Routh of aiming his rifle at the a Secret Service Agent, who then opened fire. Routh is seen during his arrest on September 16, 2024
Authorities say Routh fled the scene after a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle protruding from a bush on Trump’s course
Routh penned a chilling note about Trump before his arrest
FBI officers check the side of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, 17 September 2024
The visit was carried out in secret on February 25 and came to light weeks later after a report by CBS News.
Routh’s defense team has been preparing for a federal trial this September.
The legal filing comes as the one-year anniversary approaches on the first attempt on Trump’s life during the campaign, in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The Routh case is being heard in the U.S. District Court in the Souther District of Florida by Judge Aileen Cannon, the same Trump-appointed judge who heard the classified documents case against him.
In addition to the assassination attempt charges, Routh is charged with owning a handgun despite being a convicted felon and with possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
His team had argued the Constitution protects his ownership rights in both cases, despite a conviction for illegal possession of dynamite.
Last year, an unhinged jailhouse letter from Routh appeared in the offices of Politico.
He railed against the two-party system in the four-page handwritten letter.
‘I am unclear how we allowed ourselves to fall into just a two-party system, but it infuriates me,’ wrote Routh.
‘My entire life has been plagued by D’s and R’s. It seems not long ago there was a push for the libertarian party and now a green party and maybe Truth party. But for some reason our leaders have not allowed any other party [to] be recognized in any race.’
‘A guard [in] Palm Beach asked jokingly if I was a democrat — I said, ‘NO — Independent — I vote for the best candidate,’ Routh wrote in his jailhouse note.
Routh, who referred to himself as the ‘alleged shooter’, also went off on the ‘two ruling parties,’ complained about the growing national debt, and called for fixing the problem ‘balls out.’
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
