Suspect in Trump's second alleged assassination attempt asks judge to suppress eyewitness

Ryan Routh, the suspect in the second alleged assassination attempt against President Trump, has formally asked a judge to suppress statements from the eyewitness who identified him to police as the suspect with a high-powered rifle who was a few hundred yards away from Mr. Trump at his Florida golf course.

Prosecutors say Routh plotted to kill Mr. Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as the then-Republican nominee played golf on Sept. 14, 2024, at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Before Mr. Trump came into view, Routh was spotted by a Secret Service agent and fled, according to prosecutors. Law enforcement said the eyewitness statement was critical to finding and then charging Routh.

In a 13-page court filing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the defense alleged police induced or were "impermissibly suggestive" when questioning the witness, who was allegedly shown a single photograph of Routh taken after he was detained. 

Routh's legal team claimed police created a situation in which an "irreparable misidentification" would occur and asked a judge to exclude the witness identification of Routh from the trial, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 8, 2025. The defense argued that the testimony would be "constitutionally inadmissible" in court.

When law enforcement announced charges against Routh last year, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said after police received a call from Secret Service at 1:30 p.m. that shots had been fired, a witness saw a man jumping out of the bushes and fleeing in a black Nissan.

Law enforcement found an AK-47-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks that contained ceramic tiles, and a GoPro camera in the bushes at the scene, Bradshaw said. Secret Service officials later confirmed the suspect did not fire any shots and said he did not have a line of sight to Mr. Trump.

The Justice Department had also said a witness saw Routh running across the road from the golf course and getting into a black Nissan Xterra.

"Based on information provided by the witness, Routh was later apprehended heading northbound on I-95 by officers from the Martin County, Florida, Sheriff's Office, in coordination with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office," the department said.

According to Routh's lawyers, the witness — identified only as T.C.M. — was driving to a furniture store when he heard three gunshots.

"The windows in his vehicle were up," they noted in the court filing. T.C.M. told police he saw a disheveled male run from the bushes out of the golf course and saw a person approach a black vehicle, drop something black and small inside through the sunroof, and then enter the vehicle, according to the document.

Routh's attorneys said the witness took three photos of the vehicle and wrote down its license plate. The witness allegedly later told police he saw "a white male, 6'2" in height, light colored hair, and wearing a dark shirt and dark pants," adding that the person was "a younger male in his twenties."

An hour later, law enforcement officers pulled over Routh in a 2007 black Nissan Xterra, which does not have a sunroof, his legal team argued.

The defense argument said the witness "had dozens of law enforcement from numerous state and federal agencies watching him, thousands of stranded pedestrians on the highway awaiting this airlift and show-up, and knowledge that his identification was necessary in a case involving presidential candidate Donald Trump."

"All of these circumstances created a heightened pressure to make the identification," attorneys said in the filing. "It would not be difficult for any well-meaning individual to identify the one, and only, person law enforcement presented to them in this manner."

Routh, 58, a Hawaii resident, has pleaded not guilty to attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.