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FBI details steel armor, digital trail in trial of man accused of trying to kill Trump near golf course

Ryan Routh faces multiple federal charges

Lothar Speer

This courtroom sketch shows Secret Service agent Robert Fercano identifying the defendant in the trial of Ryan Routh, who is charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump last year at a golf course in South Florida, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Fort Pierce, Fla.

By: Ethan Stein , Associated Press

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FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Testimony resumed Tuesday in the trial of a man accused of trying to kill Donald Trump at the president's golf course near West Palm Beach last year.

This comes after prosecutors on Monday called critical FBI witnesses who laid out new evidence recovered in the case against Ryan Routh, who is representing himself during the trial.

Bullet casing, flight notes: FBI lays out evidence in Routh trial

During Tuesday morning's court session, jurors heard from three witnesses.

The first witness was A. Scott Patterson, an FBI supervisory special agent. His testimony focused on metal plates found inside bags outside Trump International Golf Course on the day of the incident, Sept. 15, 2024.

Patterson said the plates were made out of steel, weighing a little over 14 pounds. He said they issue FBI agents similar plates in armor kits.

Patterson said they tested the steel plates by firing a Glock 19M pistol normally used by law enforcement at the plate at 10 feet away.

"We essentially scratched it," Patterson testified. "We could have shot thousands of rounds, and we would have never penetrated it."

Routh then asked some unrelated questions about the range of an AK-47, which prompted U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to admonish him.

"I guess I'm not allowed to ask any questions," Routh replied.

Friday testimony in Ryan Routh trial focuses on location rifle found

The second witness the court heard from on Tuesday was Kara R. Gregor, an FBI biologist and forensic examiner.

Gregor said it was very likely that Routh's DNA was a "potential contributor" to the mixture of DNA found on various evidence.

Those objects included the SKS rifle found outside the golf course, both bags, an orange ziptie, bungee cord and right glove.

The third witness, Jerry Llanis, an FBI digital forensic examiner, outlined the digital evidence he found on the five phones collected after Routh's arrest.

Llanis testified that one phone, an Android device, used a Google account with the name "iamanidiot200010001" which they connected to Routh because his Facebook account was logged into on the same device.

Llanis said the Google account was under an alias called "John Smith".

The FBI agent testified that the phone had images of a rifle and shoes, searches on Craigslist for sales for guns near West Palm Beach and a web history search for a gear review for AK-style rifles on a gun website.

A second phone that was recovered, according to Llanis, had a satellite image from weather.com, an Instagram profile page and a live feed satellite of an airport.

Prosecutors said in their opening argument that this digital evidence would be used to show Routh came to the golf course with the intent to kill then-candidate President Donald Trump.

Routh mentioned Tuesday that his sleep was better and thanked the court for some light issues that he had while incarcerated.

However, he said he doesn’t have hot water, so that’s a problem when it comes to showering.

Routh focused most of his Tuesday cross-examination on the rifle found outside the golf course, similar to questions he's asked on other days of testimony.

Cannon has made a few objections on Routh's part, even at one point admonishing one of the U.S. attorneys for asking leading questions.

Routh's federal charges include:

Attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate
Possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence
Assaulting a federal officer
Felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition
Possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number

The trial is expected to run for two or three weeks.

Routh was a North Carolina construction worker who in recent years had moved to Hawaii. A self-styled mercenary leader, Routh spoke out to anyone who would listen about his dangerous, sometimes violent plans to insert himself into conflicts around the world, witnesses have told The Associated Press.

In the early days of the war in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to fight the Russians. In his native Greensboro, North Carolina, he was arrested in 2002 for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a "weapon of mass destruction," which turned out to be an explosive with a 10-inch fuse.

More of WPTV's coverage of Trump assassination attempt below: