Florida
Trump assassination attempt: Why Florida prosecutor says ‘insanity’ defense won’t stick for suspect
Ryan Wesley Routh’s affinity for the Ukrainian cause in the country’s fight against a Russian invasion shows he knows enough about right and wrong to make an insanity defense a tough sell in connection with his alleged failed assassination plot against former President Trump, according to a Florida prosecutor.
State Attorney Dave Aronberg, who is not handling Routh’s case after federal prosecutors claimed jurisdiction, said that although the suspect was seen smiling and laughing with defense lawyers in his first court appearance Monday, his “manic” demeanor doesn’t strike him as criminally insane.
“He fled after all, tried to get away and escape,” he said. “So that shows you that he knew the difference between right and wrong. What’s ironic about this guy is that he also understood that the Ukrainians were the good guys in their fight against the Russians – but to try to make his point, he was trying to do an evil act in attempting apparently to kill someone.”
TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SUSPECT LAUGHS, SMILES DURING FIRST COURT APPEARANCE IN FLORIDA
Ryan W. Routh, suspected of attempting to assassinate former President Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course, stands handcuffed after his arrest near Palm City, Florida, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriffs Office/Handout via Reuters)
An unnamed U.S. Secret Service agent saw a rifle barrel poking through the fence Sunday afternoon, nearly 12 hours after federal investigators say Routh’s phone began pinging on the edge of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
He fled into a Nissan SUV and sped off – heading north on Interstate 95 toward his home in North Carolina.
WATCH: Florida prosecutor pokes hole in potential defense for Trump assassination attempt suspect
Police were able to quickly obtain descriptions of both the suspect and his vehicle with the help of an eyewitness, authorities said.
At the scene, investigators recovered an SKS rifle, a digital video camera and two bags – one of which had food inside, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in federal court.
WITNESS SAW TRUMP ASSASSINATION SUSPECT FLEE BUSHES, TOOK PHOTO OF GETAWAY CAR
“This is something where this guy has got a real disconnect in his value system,” Aronberg said. “There’s a screw loose somewhere, it’s just [that] in my mind, not enough to sustain an insanity defense under the law.”
WATCH: Failed Trump assassination suspect Ryan Routh captured on bodycam video
Routh had something to say about the Ukrainian conflict in a 2022 interview with Newsweek Romania.
“A lot of the other conflicts are gray, but this conflict is definitely black and white,” he told the outlet. “This is about good versus evil. This is a storybook, you know, any movie we’ve ever watched, this is definitely evil against good.“
Routh is facing federal firearm charges for allegedly possessing an SKS rifle despite multiple prior felony convictions and for the weapon’s allegedly defaced serial number.
FBI Miami Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri also said that in 2019, a tipster reported that Routh might be a felon unlawfully in possession of a firearm in Hawaii. The complainant was interviewed. However, they did not verify the information. Routh was not interviewed by the FBI, which forwarded details to Honolulu authorities.
DEM REP DEMANDS SECRET SERVICE EXPAND TRUMP PROTECTIVE PERIMETER: ‘UNACCEPTABLE’
Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Routh was seen being taken into custody Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in bodycam footage released Monday. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office )
He’s due back in court later this month, and authorities say additional charges could be forthcoming.
They could include aggravated assault for allegedly pointing the rifle at a Secret Service agent and making threats against a former president, Aronberg told Fox News Digital.
A federal attempted murder case is rare, he added.
“They may not have all the evidence yet,” he said. “They’re still investigating. But also, that’s more of a charge at the state level than at the federal level.”
President Trump plays golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, Dec. 28, 2020. (Reuters/Marco Bello)
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Trump is scheduled to hold his first rally following the second attempt on his life on Wednesday. He will speak with voters at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
Patrick Ryder, the county police commissioner, vowed attendees would “be in the safest place in the country.”
Former President Trump was injured during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump survived another assassination attempt on July 13, when 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He struck the former president in the ear, killed a 50-year-old father of two named Corey Comperatore and seriously wounded David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74.
Counter-snipers returned fire and killed him, but the security lapse that allowed him to climb onto a rooftop with a clear line of sight to the former president prompted multiple investigations and a shakeup at the top ranks of the Secret Service.
Florida
Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’
It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.
Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county’s Republican party and a student at FIU’s College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025.
But on Wednesday, the Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp conversations in which the college Republicans made racist, sexist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, including variations of the N-word used more than 400 times. Knowledge of the chat’s existence was revealed on the same day that Republican lawmakers in Florida pushed forward a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in honor of Kirk.
William Bejerano, who the Herald noted once tried to start an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College, was the most prolific user of the N-word. Using the slur, Bejerano called for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting.
Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans’ recruitment chair, who has recently applied to become a GOP committee member, responded to the calls for violence by saying: “How edgy.” He repeatedly used “colored” to describe Black people, including writing: “Ew you had colored professors?!” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” according to the Herald.
Carvajal, who was appointed to a two-year role on the city of Hialeah’s planning and zoning board earlier this year, confirmed to the paper that the group chat was his doing, but he denied knowledge of the problematic comments until the publication contacted him about its logs last week.
“It’s been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I’ve seen this message,” Carvajal told the Herald.
“I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility, cause I created a chat. But if I had seen this at the moment, I would have removed [Bejerano] from the chat. I probably would have even blocked his number.”
The Herald found that Carvajal had deleted 14 messages sent by other participants in the chat and 42 of his own messages before the publication obtained the chat’s logs.
He also participated in some of the racist discussions. While referring to a Black student who allegedly left FIU’s College Republicans after a member of the group “called her a [N-word]”, the Floridian reported that Carvajal wrote: “Why didn’t miggress leave?” Elsewhere in the chat, the publication reported that Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet” and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children and Black people, in general.
At one point, Gonzalez wrote: “You can fuck all the [K-word, a slur for Jewish people] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”
Ian Valdes, the Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, responded, “I would def not marry a Jew,” before changing the group chat’s name from “Uber [R-word slur for disabled people] Yapping” to “Gooning in Agartha”. “Gooning” is a gen-Z slang term for male masturbation, while “Agartha” is a mythical white civilization promoted by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany next to Hitler.
Gonzalez reportedly described Agartha to the group chat as “Nazi heaven sort of”.
Kevin Cooper, the first Jewish chair of the Miami Dade Republican party, condemned the group chat in a statement published to X and called for Carvajal’s resignation.
“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida,” he wrote.
That call was echoed by Juan Porras, a Republican state representative and Miami-Dade GOP state committee member, who said in a statement: “Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida. For that reason, I am asking the Miami Dade Republican party secretary to step down from this position.”
In a joint statement, Florida Republican state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez denounced the chats and called for the expulsion from party leadership of its participants.
“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican party of Florida,” their statement said. “We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership of the Miami-Dade Republican Party … We will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination.”
Multiple leaked group chats from young Republicans have created controversy in recent years.
Last year, Politico published messages from a group chat of more than 100 conservatives across the country in which users also made racist and antisemitic comments. In 2022, a Young Republican group chat from North Dakota was revealed as a cesspool of homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.
Florida
Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'
Florida
Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip
Four days into the Iranian conflict, gas prices are rising at many stations in South Florida.
“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” says Stacey Williams. CBS Miami spoke to him as he was gassing up on the turnpike. He paid $66 for 20 gallons of diesel to fill his pickup truck. Williams has noted the fluctuations in fuel as he drives to locations for his work on turbines. He just spent three weeks at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant south of Miami.
“The salary we get paid per hour does not add up to what we pay for gas, housing, and food,” he says.
Mitchell Gershon is also dealing with the higher gas prices. He has to fill three vehicles constantly for his business—Thrifty Gypsy, a pop-up store at musical venues. He’s back and forth from Orlando to Miami and says fuel is costing him 20% more. When asked how he handles these fluctuations, he said, “Have a little backup cash so you are ready for it.”
The rise in oil prices contributed to a drop in the stock market on Tuesday, which means some retirement accounts dipped, too. CBS Miami talked to Chad NeSmith, director of investments at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, for perspective on the drop.
“We are seeing most of the pullback today. Yesterday was a shock,” he says. He’s not expecting runaway oil prices but says investors should stay in the loop: “Pay attention to your portfolio. Stick to your goals. Have a plan because these things are completely unpredictable.”
That unpredictability has Williams adjusting his budget. “You just cut back, cut corners, all you can do,” he says.
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