He was armed with a semiautomatic rifle while then-candidate Trump was playing golf on September 15, 2024. “This is not a whodunnit,” federal prosecutors told jurors during the trial in Fort Pierce. According to prosecutors, Routh was living out of a Nissan SUV while casing the golf course and closely following Trump’s schedule, awaiting his arrival at nearby Palm Beach International Airport. At multiple points during the trial, Routh was reprimanded by District Judge Aileen Cannon for disrupting the proceedings, asking irrelevant questions, or making statements that were beyond the scope of the case. open image in gallery A courtroom sketch depicts a Secret Service agent pointing out Ryan Routh as the man who tried to kill Trump during his testimony in federal court September 11.