Photo: NICOLAS GARCIA / AFP / Getty Images
Ryan Routh, facing five federal charges, including the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Florida, has plead not guilty in Florida.
He has been ordered to remain in jail pending trial.
Prosecutors allege Routh intended to kill Trump as he golfed at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15. Routh, a struggling roofing contractor, condemned the Republican presidential candidate in a self-published book and dropped off a letter left months earlier with an associate referencing an attempted assassination on Trump, prosecutors allege.
"This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you," the suspect wrote, according to a court filing by prosecutors.
Lawyers for Routh suggested at a Sept. 23 court hearing that the letter may have been an attempt at gaining publicity and highlighted what they called Routh’s efforts to promote democracy in Ukraine and Taiwan.