<p>Florida: The man charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump after allegedly positioning himself with a rifle outside one of the former president's Florida golf courses on Sept. 15 pleaded not guilty on Monday to five federal charges.</p><p>Ryan Routh, 58, entered the plea to charges that include attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate during a hearing in federal court. He has already been ordered to remain in jail to await a trial.</p><p>Prosecutors have said Routh intended to kill Trump as he golfed at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Routh, a struggling roofing contractor, condemned the Republican presidential candidate in a self-published book and dropped off a letter left months earlier with an associate referencing an attempted assassination on Trump, according to prosecutors.</p>.Donald Trump, anxious for a win in Pennsylvania, holds rally in Erie.<p>"This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you," the suspect wrote, according to a court filing by prosecutors.</p><p>Lawyers for Routh suggested at a Sept. 23 court hearing that the letter may have been an attempt by their client at gaining publicity and highlighted what they called Routh's efforts to promote democracy in Ukraine and Taiwan.</p><p>Routh hid outside a fence overlooking the sixth hole of the course, where authorities found an AK-47-style rifle, a bag of snacks, a digital camera and bags containing metal plates meant to withstand return fire by the U.S. Secret Service, according to prosecutors.</p><p>A Secret Service agent patrolling the course ahead of Trump spotted Routh and opened fire after noticing the rifle sticking through a fence. Routh fled and was later arrested along a Florida highway, prosecutors said.</p>.<p>Routh was initially charged with gun-related offenses. An indictment last week added the attempted assassination charge along with assault on a federal officer and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.</p><p>The Florida incident was the second apparent assassination attempt on Trump in a roughly two-month span, raising questions about protection of the candidate ahead of the Nov. 5 election. A gunman wounded Trump's right ear and killed an attendee at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 before being killed by a Secret Service sniper.</p><p>Trump has sought to turn the assassination attempts into a campaign issue, alleging that the Justice Department, which charged Trump in two criminal cases last year, should not be trusted to handle the investigation.</p>
<p>Florida: The man charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump after allegedly positioning himself with a rifle outside one of the former president's Florida golf courses on Sept. 15 pleaded not guilty on Monday to five federal charges.</p><p>Ryan Routh, 58, entered the plea to charges that include attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate during a hearing in federal court. He has already been ordered to remain in jail to await a trial.</p><p>Prosecutors have said Routh intended to kill Trump as he golfed at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Routh, a struggling roofing contractor, condemned the Republican presidential candidate in a self-published book and dropped off a letter left months earlier with an associate referencing an attempted assassination on Trump, according to prosecutors.</p>.Donald Trump, anxious for a win in Pennsylvania, holds rally in Erie.<p>"This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you," the suspect wrote, according to a court filing by prosecutors.</p><p>Lawyers for Routh suggested at a Sept. 23 court hearing that the letter may have been an attempt by their client at gaining publicity and highlighted what they called Routh's efforts to promote democracy in Ukraine and Taiwan.</p><p>Routh hid outside a fence overlooking the sixth hole of the course, where authorities found an AK-47-style rifle, a bag of snacks, a digital camera and bags containing metal plates meant to withstand return fire by the U.S. Secret Service, according to prosecutors.</p><p>A Secret Service agent patrolling the course ahead of Trump spotted Routh and opened fire after noticing the rifle sticking through a fence. Routh fled and was later arrested along a Florida highway, prosecutors said.</p>.<p>Routh was initially charged with gun-related offenses. An indictment last week added the attempted assassination charge along with assault on a federal officer and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.</p><p>The Florida incident was the second apparent assassination attempt on Trump in a roughly two-month span, raising questions about protection of the candidate ahead of the Nov. 5 election. A gunman wounded Trump's right ear and killed an attendee at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 before being killed by a Secret Service sniper.</p><p>Trump has sought to turn the assassination attempts into a campaign issue, alleging that the Justice Department, which charged Trump in two criminal cases last year, should not be trusted to handle the investigation.</p>