Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old man, is facing serious allegations for allegedly attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump. He is now claiming he had no intention of actually carrying out the assassination. The real surprise came when Routh’s attorney claimed that the entire “assassination attempt” was merely a “publicity stunt.”

Routh decided to skip the formal reading of the indictment. He only spent three minutes in a federal courtroom before entering his plea of “not guilty” on all counts. He faces serious charges, including possession of a firearm by a felon and having a gun with an obliterated serial number, along with the attempted assassination charge.

The FBI has shared some pretty shocking details about Routh’s so-called sniper nest, which he allegedly set up near the Trump International golf course in West Palm Beach. Prosecutors say Routh had a clear view of the 6th hole green while Trump was out golfing that Sunday afternoon. During a detention hearing last week, they claimed the former president was just minutes away from Routh’s line of sight. Talk about a close call!

Routh was reportedly seen by a Secret Service agent who was keeping an eye on things ahead of Trump. When the agent noticed the barrel of a rifle moving, he opened fire and then ducked behind a tree to reload. Routh allegedly took off in his car but was caught by local police less than an hour later on a nearby highway.

According to court documents, Roth waited for hours with a Soviet-designed, scope-fitted rifle, planning his attack. Photos from the scene showed two bags hanging from a fence off the sixth hole containing plates designed to stop small arms fire. In between those bags was an SKS rifle, and a fingerprint on that rifle matched Routh’s, making it hard for him to deny his involvement.

Unlike Thomas Matthew Crooks, who shot at Trump during a campaign rally in July, investigators have uncovered a lot of information about Routh and what might have motivated his alleged assassination attempt. Prosecutors have cited a letter that Routh allegedly left with a witness who came forward after Routh was arrested.

“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I failed you,” Routh allegedly wrote. “I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”

The letter also added that Trump “ended relations with Iran like a child, and now the Middle East has unraveled.”

Prosecutors believe that Routh had been planning to kill Trump for months. During a search of his Nissan Xterra, they discovered a handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump had previously appeared or was expected to be in the upcoming months. This list included dates in August, September, and October 2024, indicating that Routh was closely tracking Trump’s movements.

Cellphone records indicate that he had been waiting near the golf course from 1:59 a.m. to 1:31 p.m. on the day of the incident.

Routh also wrote a self-published book in which he told Iran, “You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of” the Iran nuclear deal.

Prosecutors said Routh had been arrested over 100 times – many of which were because of traffic violations – and that his travels to Ukraine and Taiwan show that he’s able to slip across borders.

Routh’s case has been randomly assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, the federal judge who dismissed criminal classified document mishandling charges against Trump earlier this year after his attorneys argued that special counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully assigned to oversee the investigation and prosecution of Trump.