Federal prosecutors have officially charged Ryan Routh with attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
The indictment adds three charges -- including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and assaulting a federal officer -- on top of the two federal firearms charges Routh was already facing.
The move was expected and previewed both by prosecutors in a court hearing on Monday and by Attorney General Merrick Garland in a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
"Violence targeting public officials endangers everything our country stands for, and the Department of Justice will use every available tool to hold Ryan Routh accountable for the attempted assassination of former President Trump charged in the indictment," Garland said in a statement. "The Justice Department will not tolerate violence that strikes at the heart of our democracy, and we will find and hold accountable those who perpetrate it. This must stop."
He is expected to be arraigned on the charges in a court hearing next week.
Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed judge who threw out Trump’s classified documents case, has been randomly assigned to oversee the Ryan Routh case.