STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We have new information about the man being held in an apparent assassination attempt on former President Trump. He traveled to West Palm Beach, Fla., a month before his arrest and seemed to have spent that month casing out Trump. He also seemed to have left behind a note about his assassination attempt. NPR's Greg Allen is covering the court proceedings in Florida. Greg, good morning.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK, so what did you learn here?
ALLEN: Well, in these court papers that were filed today, the government says that cell site records for two phones that were found in Ryan Routh's car the day he was arrested show that he traveled from Greensboro, N.C., to West Palm Beach on August 14. That's a full month before the incident that led to his arrest. You know, on multiple days over the next month, the government statement says that his cellphone's accessed towers near Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach and his private residence at Mar-a-Lago. And as we know, there have been many questions about when the suspect got to Florida and what he's been doing in the days and the hours beforehand. This begins to fill in the blanks. And we should note the government says in its filing that it's holding back some information that'll be revealed later in future filings.
INSKEEP: OK, so more to come. But they have said there was this letter that Mr. Routh seems to have written before the incident. Where did it come from? Or what does it say?
ALLEN: Right. This letter was in a box with other possessions that he left behind with an unidentified person. The letter, which is addressed to the world, says, quote, "this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster." According to the court filing, the person who received the box didn't open it until after seeing news reports of the apparent assassination attempt, and that's when they read - the person read the letter and turned it over to authorities. Prosecutors say the box also contained ammunition, a metal pipe, some building materials, tools, four phones and various other letters.
INSKEEP: OK, I want to clarify a couple of things. First, it seems he left behind this note for if his assassination attempt failed. Is that right?
ALLEN: That's right, yep.
INSKEEP: And second, we've been calling it an apparent assassination attempt, as the authorities have, 'cause we want to be careful. Do we really know what was going on here? This would seem to be ever-stronger evidence that that is, in fact, what the motive was, at least according to prosecutors.
ALLEN: Exactly. I mean, actually connecting - finding the motive and connecting Routh to an actual assassination attempt will be the challenge for prosecutors. At this point, we have witnesses who say that they saw him run from the bushes. We have an agent who says that they saw a gun barrel. In this document, we also have an agent saying they saw for the first time a partially obscured face. He saw a person holding the gun. Whether he can identify that person as Routh could be crucial in terms of tying him to the actual allegations here.
INSKEEP: And I'm impressed by the cellphone data that this puts Routh again and again - or at least phones connected with him - puts them again and again close to the golf course.
ALLEN: Right. And for a month beforehand and, you know, during that time, we don't know where he was staying. We think he might have been in his car. But it shows that the - that also goes to showing a motive, that he was there to plan it, which could be crucial here to actually prove an assassination attempt.
INSKEEP: NPR's Greg Allen is in West Palm Beach, Fla. Greg, always a pleasure to hear from you. Thanks.
ALLEN: Thanks.
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