Officials: Suspected would-be assassin on FBI's radar

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service, and other law enforcement officials provided updates during a press conference on Former President Donald Trump's second assassination attempt.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, the suspect in Trump's latest assassination attempt appeared in federal court Monday morning and was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. More charges are expected.

United States Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said one of his agents spotted what he perceived to be a rifle poking out of the tree line and immediately fired his service weapon at him. Trump was reportedly 400 yards away from the potential shooter.

"The subject, who did not have a line of sight to the former president, fled the scene. He did not fire or get off any shots at our agents," Rowe said.

Routh then fled in a black Nissan and a witness was able to provide authorities with a description of the vehicle and a tag number. Routh was spotted heading toward Martin County, 50 miles from the Trump International Golf Course. He was pulled over and apprehended by law enforcement.

Markenzy Lapointe, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said a digital camera, a backpack, and loaded rifle with a scope, and a bag containing food were found in the area where the rifle was seen by the agent.

Jeffrey B. Veltri, Special Agent in Charge with the FBI Miami Field Office, said Routh was the subject of a 2019 tip to the FBI in regard to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

"Following up on the tip, the alleged complainant was interviewed and did not verify providing the initial information. The FBI passed that information to local law enforcement in Honolulu," Veltri said.

Additionally, Veltri said Routh invoked his rights to an attorney when agents attempted to interview him at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

This second assassination attempt comes just two months after Trump was shot by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks while speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.

Routh purportedly posted about politics, including a number of posts about Trump on his X account. A post dated June 11, 2020, "While you were my choice in 2106, I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving; you are ret**ded; I will be glad when you gone."

According to investigators, Routh appears to have an extensive criminal record which includes; barricading himself in an office with a gun during a three-hour standoff after fleeing a traffic stop in 2002; drug possession, operating a vehicle with no insurance; driving without a license; and run-ins with police since the 1990s.

Routh reportedly tried recruiting Afghan fighters for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia and urged Iran to kill Trump.

"You are free to assassinate Trump," written in Routh's self-published book, "Ukraine's Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen-Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea and the end of Humanity."

A motive for both assassination attempts have not been disclosed by investigators.