(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Justice Department disclosed in a Monday court filing that Ryan Routh is no longer considering an “insanity defense” against the allegations that he attempted to assassinate Donald Trump last September on his Florida golf course.
The DOJ first disclosed Routh’s potential insanity defense last December, and Routh’s attorneys were given until Feb. 3 to file a formal notice to pursue that defense. On Monday, the DOJ said that the defense missed that deadline.
“The defense did not provide any ‘notice of an insanity defense, notice of expert evidence of a mental condition, or motion for mental competency or for relief related to Defendant’s mental condition’ by the Court’s deadline of February 3,” prosecutors said. “As the Court explained, this deadline was ‘necessary to ensure a just, orderly, and speedy trial and is reasonable given the procedural history of this case.’ So those issues, at least, are off the table for trial.”
🚨KEY UPDATES in the Ryan Routh attempted assassination case. Let's start with something potentially significant: Law enforcement just searched Routh's Nissan Xterra mere weeks ago on Jan. 30. Routh fled Trump's golf course in this Xterra. It's unclear whether this was the first… https://t.co/PMu2NAuyCl pic.twitter.com/K97SmcMsX1
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) March 4, 2025
The DOJ further aired other previously unpublicized discovery issues, including that law enforcement searched Routh’s Nissan Xterra just weeks ago on Jan. 30. Routh used a Nissan Xterra to flee the golf course on Sept. 15. It’s unclear whether the Jan. 30 search was a follow-up search.
The DOJ also said investigators found “potential destructive device components” inside a gray Sterilite bin placed by the Routh at a private residence in Greensboro, North Carolina. The components had the potential to “kill or seriously injure a human being,” according to the DOJ.
Additionally, the DOJ disclosed that the FBI has interviewed over 200 witnesses—a disclosure the DOJ said it wasn’t even obligated to make. Another disclosure was that the FBI used the Israeli spyware firm Cellebrite to access Routh’s 17 cell phones. Cellebrite is the same company used to access alleged Trump shooter Thomas Crooks’s devices.
The DOJ concluded its status report by complaining about the lack of discovery from defense counsel.
“Routh’s refusal to provide information to us on a rolling or ‘as available’ basis, makes this Court’s timetable for pre- trial motions virtually impossible for the Government to meet. For example, the Government cannot realistically be expected to prepare and file Daubert motions to exclude any proposed defense experts – at least motions of the quality and helpfulness this Court should expect – in the short time (five business days) between March 28 and the current motions deadline of April 7,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors have accused Routh, 58, of Hawaii, of stalking Trump for a month before he built a sniper’s nest near the Trump International golf course in West Palm Beach.
Federal prosecutors charged Routh with possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, and attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.
Routh has pleaded not guilty. His trial is set for September.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
