New arrest warrant amplifies Florida's fight with feds over second Trump assassination attempt

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced Wednesday that the state has obtained an arrest warrant alleging attempted felony murder against Ryan Routh, who is already in federal custody on charges of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump.

It’s a continuation of a back-and-forth between the Biden administration and Florida Republican leaders over the state’s role in investigating the assassination attempt in September, the second attempt on Trump's life in three months. Routh’s trial is set for February. 

Routh faces five federal charges, including attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate, but Florida officials have said the federal government has “stonewalled” the state’s ability to conduct its own investigation or partner with the federal investigation.

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“The feds have stonewalled Florida’s investigation of the Trump assassination attempt at every turn, and I appreciate AG Moody and her team for plowing forward despite some resistance,” DeSantis said on X after Moody announced the warrant at a morning news conference. 

Trump has criticized the Justice Department’s handling of the second assassination attempt. The Justice Department did not answer a request for comment.

Moody said the arrest warrant alleging attempted felony murder is not directly related to the Trump assassination attempt itself; instead, it is connected to a vehicle crash that happened because police shut down traffic on a highway as they tried to catch a fleeing Routh. 

Moody said backed-up traffic as a result of the search caused a vehicle accident that injured a 6-year-old girl, which motivated the state’s push to seek its own charges. The crash happened 3 or 4 miles south of where Routh was apprehended, according to an affidavit released by Moody’s office.

“When you couple those terrible injuries together with his other criminal conduct, which we believe rises to the level of domestic terrorism, it turns his actions into an attempted felony murder,” Moody said at the news conference.

The threat against Trump's life on Sept. 15 while he was playing golf at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach immediately drew attention from Florida Republican leaders.

Two days later, DeSantis issued an executive order directing state law enforcement agencies to investigate the attempted assassination, and a month later, Moody sued the FBI over what she called at the time an “unlawful attempt to block Florida’s criminal investigation.”

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At her news conference Wednesday, which DeSantis could not attend because of inclement weather, many of Moody’s comments focused on a “new day” that Trump’s law enforcement appointments will bring to the federal government.

She specifically mentioned Trump's pick for U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi, who previously held the same post in Florida, and his pick for FBI director, Kash Patel.

“A new day is coming,” Moody said. “The people who have been nominated, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, love this country and what it is meant to be.”

Moody, who is among the contenders on a shortlist to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, reiterated her support for Trump’s choices of Patel and Bondi.

“I expect next month we will see new leadership at agencies that will rightly reach out as intended,” she said.