PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. – Following an apparent foiled assassination attempt, former President Donald Trump was gifted the same handcuffs used to arrest the suspect.
“I like that,” Trump told the Martin County sheriff’s deputies he met with Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago.
The deputies were praised by the GOP presidential candidate for the highway takedown of 58-year old Ryan Routh.
A charging document details the crime -- the suspect was allegedly positioned on site at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach for 12 hours before Trump showed up Sunday for an unplanned outing.
A Secret Service agent noticed the barrel of a rifle sticking out of a fence and fired toward the suspect, who then fled.
Authorities said the would-be gunman left behind an AK-47 style weapon, and a backpack with a GoPro and food.
But a witness snapped a photo of the getaway SUV and its stolen license plate, which helped deputies capture the suspect.
“There may be something with the tags that involves a Broward Nexis, so they’re still working on that,” Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Tuesday.
Records show Routh is a convicted felon with ties to Hawaii and North Carolina.
He was active on social media, sometimes criticizing the former president in posts, and he was especially passionate about the war in Ukraine -- even visiting the country.
And while Routh is only being held in federal jail on a pair of gun possession charges, the governor says attempted murder should be on the table and he wants the state to handle that side of the case after launching his own investigation.
“In my judgement, it is not in the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation,” DeSantis said.
As of Wednesday, Routh was being held at a federal detention center in Miami. His next court hearing has been scheduled for Monday.