Donald Trump Gunman’s 12-Hour Wait ‘Deeply Troubling’—Former FBI Official

The fact that a would-be Trump assassin is alleged to have been lying in wait for 12 hours is “deeply troubling,” a former FBI assistant director said.
Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director for counterintelligence, was reacting to the agency’s criminal complaint against Ryan Routh that says he might have been waiting for former President Donald Trump for 12 hours with a high-powered rifle and scope. The estimation is based on geolocation data from Routh’s cellphone.
“Lying in wait for 12 hours without detection, within rifle range of a protectee is deeply troubling,” Figliuzzi told Newsweek. “I understand Trump’s [golf] outing was off the record and unscheduled and therefore the Secret Service felt they did not need to conduct a high-level advance, but this protocol needs to change. The threat is too high to treat off-the-record movements with any less gravity.”
Newsweek sought email comment from Routh’s attorney on Tuesday.
Trump was playing golf at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sunday when a gunman was seen aiming a rifle through the perimeter fence. A Secret Service agent fired several shots and the man fled in a Nissan. The suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, was later arrested as he drove north.
Figliuzzi said the Secret Service needs more funding.
“The Service clearly needs more resources, even though their budget has grown by 55 percent over 10 years,” he said. “Yet, more money won’t change the root causes of this threat. Too many people have guns who should not have them. The agency responsible for enforcing current gun laws is the ATF. Their budget was just slashed by $50 million.”
On Monday, Routh appeared in federal court in Florida, where he was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with a deleted serial number. Other charges are expected in the coming weeks.
Figliuzzi said that removing a gun’s serial number “is a serious federal crime.”
“It’s also a crime to receive a gun with an obliterated serial number,” he said. “This will make it harder for ATF to trace the weapon that this assailant had. Depending on the degree of obliteration, the lab may be able to restore it with chemical etching.”
Routh has a checkered criminal history. Records show that in 2002, he was driving without a valid license and was stopped by police. He then sped off and barricaded himself inside his own roofing company for three hours before surrendering.
He was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, resisting a police officer and driving without a valid license, among other charges. He was given a suspended sentence.
Sunday’s incident came two months after Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was struck by a bullet in his right ear at an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. The 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who fired rounds from a nearby roof, was killed by a Secret Service countersniper.