A suspect has appeared in court charged with federal gun crimes after an apparent assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump.
Trump, the Republican nominee in November’s election, was playing golf at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida, when agents discovered a man pointing an assault rifle into the course.
The FBI is now investigating “what appears to be an attempted assassination”, the second Trump has faced in nine weeks.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, briefly entered a Florida courtroom on Monday morning for his initial appearance, wearing a dark blue jumpsuit and with his arms and legs shackled.
He faces charges of possessing a firearm despite being a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Additional and more serious charges are possible as the investigation continues and prosecutors seek an indictment.
Routh smiled as he spoke to his lawyer and reviewed documents.
He sat quietly for about five minutes with no visible signs of nervousness before marshals led him back out to await his hearing.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden says the US Secret Service “needs more help” as Routh appeared in court.
President Biden briefly spoke to reporters on Monday morning but said he has not yet received a full report of Sunday’s incident, but adds “Thank God” the ex-president is unharmed.
“The Secret Service needs more help,” Biden said as he left the White House.
Reporters asked if the Secret Service needed more money or personnel.
He said: “But one thing I want to make clear: the Service needs more help.
“And I think that Congress should respond to their needs if they in fact need more service people.”
He added: “They’re deciding whether they need more personnel or not.”
Secret Service agents stationed a few holes up from where Trump was playing noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away.
An agent fired and the gunman dropped the rifle and fled in an SUV, leaving the firearm behind along with two backpacks, a scope used for aiming and a GoPro camera, Palm Beach County sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.
He was later stopped by law enforcement in a neighbouring county.
Records show Routh lived in North Carolina for most of his life before moving to Hawaii in 2018.
In 2020, he made a social media post backing Trump's re-election, but in more recent years his posts have expressed support for President Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris.
Routh tried to recruit Afghan soldiers fleeing the Taliban to fight in Ukraine, and spent several months in the country, according to an interview with The New York Times last year.
The FBI is leading the investigation and working to determine any motive.
US attorney general Merrick Garland is receiving regular updates.
Meanwhile, Trump is blaming his political rivals’ rhetoric for the apparent attempt on his life.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, he alleged the gunman “believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it.”
Trump went on to say: “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country - both from the inside and out.”
His tone was different than the one adopted immediately after the Pennsylvania assassination attempt in July, when he called for unity and a cooling of the political temperature, including during his speech at the Republican National Convention.
“They use highly inflammatory language,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “I can use it too - far better than they can - but I don’t.”
