Judge allows would-be Trump assassin to represent himself at trial

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the man accused of planning to assassinate President Donald Trump last year may represent himself at his upcoming trial. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon granted suspect Ryan Routh’s request after an hour-long hearing on Thursday, noting that his court-appointed counsel must remain on standby. Cannon’s ruling came days after Routh’s public defenders submitted a motion to terminate counsel.

Why did his public defenders want off the case? The Wednesday motion from the federal public defender’s office described the attorney-client relationship with Routh as irreconcilably broken. Routh refused to meet with his assigned counsel at least six times, most recently on Tuesday morning, according to the request. The client wants to represent himself, which is clearly within his constitutional rights, the filing added. Routh claimed in a June letter to the court that he and his attorneys were, in his words, a million miles apart. He also said they refused to answer his questions.

Routh faced charges for attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, and several gun charges, according to the indictment filed last September. Prosecutors accused Routh of waiting near the sixth hole of Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course with a loaded semiautomatic rifle. Routh denied the accusations and entered a not-guilty plea last year.

Dig deeper: Read my previous report for more about Routh’s plea.