CNN —
As the Justice Department prepares to indict a man who allegedly plotted to kill Donald Trump while he was golfing, federal prosecutors said they were focusing on one charge in particular: that the team plotted to kill a key figure in the presidential candidate’s career.
In court on Monday, prosecutor Mark Dispoto told the judge that the Department of Justice will pursue the charge under 18 U.S. Code Section 351, which carries a possible sentence of life in federal prison.
Prosecutors have already charged Ryan Wesley Routh with two firearms-related charges, and a federal magistrate judge on Monday ordered him held in custody pending further court proceedings. He has not yet entered a plea.
Andrew McCabe, a former FBI deputy director and CNN senior law enforcement analyst, said the assassination attempt charge is “fairly unusual,” but it has been used in other high-profile assassination attempts, including that of a man accused of taking guns, burglary tools and other equipment to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home and attempting to kill the judge.
To prove their case, prosecutors will have to convince the jury that Routh took active steps to carry out a plot to assassinate the former president. They will cite evidence already revealed in court, including a letter Routh allegedly wrote to The World, which read, “This was an assassination plot against Donald Trump, and I have let you all down. I did my best and mustered all the courage I had. Now it’s up to you to complete the mission. I am offering $150,000 to anyone who can complete the mission.”
Former Justice Department national security prosecutor David Aaron told CNN that despite prosecutors’ revelations, it could be difficult for the Justice Department to convince a jury that Routh actually tried to kill Trump because he never fired a shot.
“This isn’t as black and white as any other case where someone shoots someone and misses,” Aaron said. Instead, prosecutors will have to convince jurors that Routh’s other actions, including obtaining and loading the rifle, knowing where Trump was and hiding just outside the golf course and lying in wait for several hours until his target was in view, are enough to prove he intended to kill.
“If he fired a shot and missed, that’s a much better case, a much easier case,” McCabe said, adding that prosecutors “don’t have solid evidence of a crime because there was no opportunity for that shot to be fired.”
“What they have is circumstantial evidence,” he said. “You can convict somebody on circumstantial evidence, but if that’s the way you do it, you need a lot of circumstantial evidence. You’re going to mislead the jury with all the little things this guy did that can only be interpreted one way.”
There is also a provision in federal law that, if the charges are filed, could automatically preempt any Florida lawsuit against Routh, saying state investigators and prosecutors “suspend the exercise of jurisdiction until the termination of the federal action.” It’s not clear how that provision applies to this case, Aaron said, adding that state and federal authorities often work together during investigations.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said last week that the state would conduct its own investigation into the assassination attempt at Trump International Golf Club. Routh has not been charged in state court.
If Routh is convicted of the federal charges, he could face life in prison, but the sentence will be up to the discretion of the judge presiding over his case.
McCabe said prosecutors’ decision to use the more severe charge was significant both because of the heavy sentence it could bring and the “symbolic significance” of bringing a charge amounting to attempted murder against someone who allegedly plotted to kill a former president and current Republican presidential candidate.
“I think the perception of what they did is a factor that (prosecutors and investigators) are going to be addressing,” McCabe said. “So, they’re going to build the best case they can. If they don’t think they can prove it, they’re not going to charge the perpetrator, but I think it’s important to charge it as an attempted assassination.”
CNN’s Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.
