While President Trump spoke with reporters about federal job cuts and signed executive orders in the Oval Office last Tuesday, a notable — and unannounced — visit was underway at Mr. Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. It wasn’t publicized. But it could impact one of the highest-profile criminal trials in America this year.
According to court filings reviewed by CBS News, defense attorneys for Ryan Routh were given access to tour the Trump golf course on Feb. 25 to prepare Routh’s defense in the alleged assassination attempt against Mr. Trump during a Sept. 15 golf outing. A court filing submitted by Justice Department prosecutors this week said, “We took the lead in setting up arrangements for this visit even though the prosecution team obviously does not control the course, which is private property.”
In a March 3 court filing, prosecutors added, “As we told defense counsel, their request to inspect the firearm in this manner was highly unusual in the experience of the FBI, but nonetheless we made it happen.”
Prosecutors have also helped provide transport of the rifle allegedly wielded by Routh near Trump’s September golf outing. According to the Justice Department’s submissions to a federal judge in Miami, “To accommodate a defense request, the prosecution team ensured that the firearm, scope, magazine, ammunition, and antiballistic plates were transported from the FBI’s lab in Quantico, Virginia, to the FBI Field Office in Miramar, Florida, so the defense could inspect it, with purported consultants in tow, in South Florida after the golf course visit.”
Prosecutors say Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks, before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15 at the Trump West Palm Beach country club. Before Trump came into view, Routh was allegedly spotted by a Secret Service agent. Federal authorities accuse Routh of aiming his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot. Prosecutors say he left behind a note describing his intentions.
A White House spokeswoman declined comment when asked about the defense attorney visit to the president’s Florida golf property. FBI, Justice Department officials and Routh’s federal public defense attorneys also did not comment.
The federal criminal case against Routh, which gathered widespread attention when it was filed in September, has attracted little attention in the months since. His alleged attempt on Mr. Trump’s life was partly overshadowed by the dramatic first assassination attempt last July in Butler, Pennsylvania. Routh’s trial is scheduled for September 2025.
Routh’s son charged in separate felony case
A CBS News review found Routh’s legal case has also given rise to another federal investigation. According to charging documents filed in North Carolina, federal investigators searched the apartment of Routh’s son six days after the alleged assassination attempt in September. The court filings said an electronic device discovered in Oran Routh’s apartment had “hundreds of child pornography images.”
Prosecutors said the initial search of Oran Routh’s home was unrelated to the child pornography evidence, but the investigation ultimately revealed multiple devices with suspected child exploitative images.
On Jan. 8, Oren Routh signed a plea agreement in which he acknowledged “that the material which contained an image of child pornography charged in the Second Superseding Indictment herein involved a prepubescent minor and minor who had not attained 12 years of age.”
He is scheduled to be sentenced May 14 at the federal courthouse in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Both Oran Routh and his father are being held in pretrial detention pending the resolution of their cases.
Though the two criminal cases are separate, court filings reviewed by CBS News show correspondence between Ryan Routh and his son are part of the evidence that has been collected and noted in Ryan Routh’s assassination attempt case in Florida.
If convicted, Ryan Routh faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. According to court records, Routh was convicted of felonies in North Carolina in December 2002 and March 2010.
Ryan Routh’s trial is scheduled for Sept. 8, nearly a year to the day after the alleged assassination attempt. The presiding judge is Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Mr. Trump in 2020. Last year, Cannon dismissed Trump’s classified documents federal criminal case.
