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A new mugshot has been released of Donald Trump’s suspected would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh.
Routh, 58, is being held behind bars in Florida after Secret Service agents allegedly thwarted a second assassination attempt on the former president at his West Palm Beach golf club on Sunday.
In the newly-released booking photo, released by Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Routh is seen staring into the camera with a half-smile across his face.
He is charged with federal counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession and receipt of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. The charges relate to previous felonies in North Carolina in 2002 and 2010, which mean Routh is banned from owning a firearm.
According to authorities, the suspect aimed an assault rifle through the bushes at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while the Republican presidential candidate was playing a round of golf around 300 to 500 yards away on Sunday.
A Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a gun poking through the bushes at around 1.30pm and opened fired on the suspect, West Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said in a press conference that day.
The suspect then allegedly fled the scene, but authorities tracked down his black Nissan SUV on the I-95 after a witness took down his license plate, authorities said.
Bodycam footage shows Routh being taken into custody.
While the motive for the alleged attack remains unclear, the FBI said it is treating the incident as an “attempted assassination.”
Routh’s social media accounts have since shed some light on his political stance.
Past posts indicate he once supported Trump and voted for him in the 2016 election.
But, he had criticized the former president more recently.
In a 2020 X post, he wrote: “While you were my choice in 2106 [sic], 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. I will be glad when you gone.”
He appears to have leaned more in favor of President Joe Biden of late, tagging the president’s account in April this year and suggesting the campaign should be “called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free.”
Routh appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach for the first time on Monday.
