Man who staked out Trump officially charged with attempted assassination

A man has been officially charged with the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Prosecutors filed the charges against Ryan Wesley Routh on Tuesday. He faces a maximum potential sentence of life in prison.

Authorities believe Routh plotted to kill the Republican Presidential candidate after being spotted by the Secret Service in the undergrowth.

Investigators say the 58-year-old had stalked Trump for more than a month, and camped outside his West Palm Beach golf course for over 12 hours.

Prosecutors told a federal magistrate judge on Monday that cell phone data allegedly placed Routh at the golf course as well as Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence between the 18th of August and the day Routh was arrested.

The United States Justice Department has also said Routh had written a note saying he intended to kill the former president.

The note was dropped off months earlier at the home of an unidentified person who did not open it until after the arrest.

A handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump was set to appear was also found in Routh’s car, the department confirmed.

On the 15th of September, officers fired at the suspect when he was discovered during routine security checks.

He sped away in a car before being stopped by officials in a nearby county.

The Secret Service has said the suspect did not fire any shots and never had Trump in his line of sight.

Court documents show that the Judge overseeing this case is a Trump appointee, Judge Aileen Cannon, who threw out the federal classified documents case against the former President.

The charges against Routh also include possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and assaulting a federal officer, in addition to the two previous gun charges Routh faced.