Suspect in apparent assassination attempt of Trump charged in federal court

West Palm Beach, Florida (CNN) — Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect in the apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, is in federal court for an initial appearance Monday morning.

Routh was taken into custody Sunday after being stopped on the highway following the shooting incident.

On Monday, he was wearing dark prison scrubs, and his feet and hands were shackled. He appeared before Magistrate Judge Ryon M. McCabe.

Routh was charged with two firearm counts, including possession of a firearm while a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. A detention hearing is set for Monday, Sept. 23. Additional charges could be brought against him, according to law enforcement officials familiar with the matter.

Biden says Secret Service needs ‘more help’

President Joe Biden wants Congress to give the US Secret Service “more help” in the wake of Sunday’s incident.

“Thank God the president is OK,” Biden told reporters Monday morning.

He said he thought there was a “full report so far.”

“The one thing I want to make clear is (the Secret Service) needs more help, and I think the Congress should respond to their needs if they, in fact, need more Service people,” Biden said at the White House, shortly before leaving for Delaware and Pennsylvania. “So that’s what we’re going to be talking about.”

Asked by CNN’s Kevin Liptak what kind of help they needed, Biden responded, “I think we need some more personnel.”

“I think they may need – they’re deciding whether they need more personnel or not,” Biden said.

Staffing issues have plagued the Secret Service for years. Agents and officers have described feeling burned out by overtime shifts and long assignments, leading to high turnover.

Then-USSS Director Kim Cheatle told Congress over the summer that the agency currently has 8,000 employees but that its goal was to reach 9,500.

On Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “As we gather the facts, I will be clear: I condemn political violence. We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.”

“I am thankful that former President Trump is safe,” she added.

‘High level of pre-planning’

The incident happened about 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday after a Secret Service agent noticed the barrel of a rifle poking from the fence between the 5th and 6th hole of Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach, Florida, in a tree line near a heavily traveled road.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the agent fired at the gunman, who officials said was within 500 yards of Trump. Bradshaw said no shots were fired by the gunman, who later fled in a car.

Along the fence line, authorities found a sniper’s nest which included a scoped rifle, a GoPro camera and backpacks with ceramic plates.

“This whole set-up indicates a very high level of pre-planning,” former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe told CNN.

Bradshaw said a witness saw a man run from the bushes. A man was later detained in Martin County, about an hour drive from Trump’s golf club.

Three law enforcement sources named the man detained as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, who owns a small construction company and lives in Hawaii.

Routh was driving his daughter’s car when he was later detained, according to a law enforcement source. A picture released by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office after he was detained showed him wearing a long-sleeved, salmon-colored shirt with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Routh remained silent while being detained, local state attorney David Aronberg told CNN. Trump’s golf outing was not on his public schedule and it’s not yet clear how Routh allegedly knew where Trump would be at that moment.

‘Delusional ideas’

On social media, Routh was a staunch supporter of Ukraine who said he supported Trump in 2016 but later became disillusioned with the former president. He’s been frequently critical of Trump recently.

Routh traveled to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion two years ago, attending a rally in Kyiv on May 1, 2022. Representatives for Ukraine’s foreign legion said Routh contacted them several times but distanced themselves from Routh.

Oleksandr Shaguri, an officer of the Foreigners Coordination Department of the Land Forces Command, told CNN over the phone that “the best way to describe his messages is – delusional ideas.”

Routh’s son Oran Routh called him a “good father, and a great man” in a statement on Sunday.

Latest escalation in bitter campaign

Coming 51 days before the election, the apparent attempt on the former president’s life is the latest escalation in what has been an extremely bitter political campaign — including another assassination attempt that wounded Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 and a separate Iranian plot against Trump that was foiled earlier this year.

It left Biden and Harris once again having to decry political violence. Biden was briefed about the attempt on Trump’s life shortly after it was foiled and released a statement saying he was “relieved” Trump was unharmed and that “there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country.”

Harris is scheduled to attend a campaign meeting in Washington Monday afternoon, according to guidance from her campaign office. CNN previously reported Harris would also attend a rank-and-file roundtable with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at the union’s headquarters in Washington on Monday.

Trump will appear at the launch for a new cryptocurrency business at his Mar-a-Lago home Monday evening.

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This story has been updated with additional developments.

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Contributing: Nikki Carvajal and Kevin Liptak, CNN