The trial for the man accused of plotting to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course has been delayed.
Federal Judge Aileen Cannon ruled Monday that the trial for 58-year-old Ryan Routh would begin on September 8, 2025, instead of the originally scheduled February 10. Routh is facing multiple charges including the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate.
Cannon said that Routh’s defense team “had not meaningfully responded” to prosecutors’ requests for evidence, the Washington Examiner reported. Cannon also noted that Routh’s lawyers maintained that “mental health evaluations are ongoing” but hadn’t yet decided if they would be pursuing an insanity defense.
Routh’s team has until February 3 to officially announce “an insanity defense” or “note of expert evidence of a mental condition.”
Routh is accused of hiding in the bushes with a rifle near Trump’s golf course on September 15 allegedly with the intent of killing the then-presidential candidate. Law enforcement said Routh fled after being confronted by a Secret Service agent who shot at him after he saw a rifle barrel poking out of the bushes.
He also faces charges of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
In a separate case, Florida has charged Routh with attempted murder over a car crash that occurred as he was apprehended by law enforcement.
Attorney General Pam Bondi will stop at nothing to eradicate fentanyl from the streets.
On Wednesday, Bondi revealed that she carries around a vial of fake fentanyl to show that just a tiny amount can be deadly.
While appearing on Fox & Friends from the White House lawn, Bondi discussed the importance of recent drug trafficking busts in several states that turned up massive amounts of fentanyl, cocaine, and guns.
To illustrate her point, she said she keeps a small bottle of “fake fentanyl” to remind herself how just a tiny amount can prove deadly.
“Each pill has the potential to kill a human being. A human life. An American life. I’ve been carrying around a little vial with fake fentanyl in it, the amount it takes to kill you, and it looks like a couple of grains of salt,” Bondi told Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones.
On Tuesday, Bondi announced that authorities made one of the biggest fentanyl busts in U.S. history with the seizure 409 kilos of fentanyl pills and 11.5 kilos of fentanyl powder.
Bondi said that around 35 kilos of methamphetamine, 35 kilos of meth, 7.5 kilos of cocaine and 4.5 kilos of heroin were also seized along with $5 million in cash and 49 rifles and pistols.
Sixteen people were arrested in the operation. Six of the individuals are in the U.S. illegally, Bondi said.
Bondi also teased a joint announcement with FBI Director Kash Patel of a major child exploitation ring bust later in the morning, while urging parents to take notice of their children’s online habits.
“Your kids have no right to privacy on the internet,” she said, adding, “Children are getting recruited on the internet from being on games, social media or any social media platform. Parents, you’ve got to monitor what your kids are doing because they think they are talking to other children and they are not. They are talking to monsters often.”
“You’ve gotta be all in your children’s business,” Jones added.
Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Attorney General Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel announced Wednesday that 205 alleged child sex predators who preyed on children online have been arrested in the last week.
The Department of Justice will never stop fighting to protect children and we will not rest until we find and prosecute every child predator who preys on the most vulnerable.
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) May 7, 2025
The arrests are part of a new joint operation by the Justice Department and FBI called “Operation Restore Justice” which saw 115 children across the country rescued in the process, Bondi and Patel said.
Bondi called the operation “historic and “unprecedented.”
🚨 #BREAKING: Kash Patel and Pam Bondi announce 205 arrests of child predators this week ALONE
KASH: “If you harm our children, there is no place we won’t hunt you down—and no cage we won’t put you in.”
“These depraved human beings, if convicted, will face the maximum penalty in prison some life,” Bondi said at a press briefing.
“We will find you. We will arrest you, and we will charge you. If you are online targeting a child, you will not escape us. The FBI and the Department of Justice will come after you. And we will prosecute you.”
“We need to X him [Musk], and by X I mean, formally known as assassination. And it’s a warning from the FBI is going to f*cking show up. Arrest me. You don’t have enough people to even investigate me at this point. I haven’t filed my taxes in, like, eight years and yet, nobody has come for me. So, I’m going to f*cking say it. Let’s assassinate some motherf*ckers,” the woman said in the video.
The Daily Caller reported that she deleted her entire account following the video going viral.
Musk has faced a growing number of threats since associating with President Trump.
The incident comes months after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
A U.S. Army soldier drove the Cybertruck, which he rented from Turo, outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Monday morning. Upon arriving, the vehicle was detonated by explosives in the car.
Investigators found fireworks, gasoline canisters and camping fuel in the remains of the vehicle. The soldier was believed to have fatally shot himself shortly before the explosion.
On the day of the attack, Musk commented on X that the individual “picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack” because the “Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.”
The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.
Capitol police have arrested a Massachusetts man who allegedly traveled to Washington, D.C. armed with Molotov cocktails and a knife to kill newly-confirmed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Ryan Michael “Reily” English, who turned himself in to U.S. Capitol Police at 3:12 p.m. ET Monday, said he traveled to Washington, D.C., initially planning to kill Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., a police affidavit revealed.
By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America – Pete Hegseth, CC BY-SA 2.0
But English shifted his target to Bessent after stopping at a library in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and reading that the Senate was voting Monday on his nomination as President Donald Trump’s Treasury chief, the document said.
CNBC reported English contemplated throwing the Molotov cocktails at Bessent’s feet, according to the affidavit, which was filed in Washington, D.C., federal court. And if he were able to get close enough, English said, he would have stabbed Bessent with a knife.
Bessent’s nomination was confirmed about three hours after English’s arrest. President Trump’s Cabinet nominee received bipartisan backing and was confirmed Tuesday with a 77-22 vote.
English has been charged with unlawful receipt, possession or transfer of a firearm, as well as carrying a firearm, explosive or incendiary device on Capitol grounds.
The affidavit said English approached an officer at the south door of the Capitol and said, “I’d like to turn myself in.” English told the officer that he was carrying weapons, including two Molotov cocktails.
Two officers detained and searched English, finding two devices constructed of 50-milliliter vodka bottles with gray cloth affixed to their tops. They also found a folding knife and a lighter, according to the court documents.
He said he was at the Capitol to “kill Scott Bessent,” the affidavit said.
Police said they searched the vehicle and found a 750-milliliter bottle of 100-proof vodka and a gray sweatshirt with cloth cut off the sleeves.
Ted Eytan from Washington, DC, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Before transporting English into custody, police said they found a receipt in his pocket with a note written on the back of a receipt:
“Judith dear god I am so sorry. You must understand I can feel myself dying slowly b/c of my heart. This is terrible but I cant do nothing while nazis kill my sisters,” the note read, according to the affidavit.
“I love you. This is awful. Im so sorry. I love u. Please stay alive and heal. you can. you are strong enough. [F—] them for pushing us so far. you dont deserve this. Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying. Please survive [7 hearts],” it read.
In addition to his initial intention of killing Hegseth or Johnson, English told police he considered burning down the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
English said that he surveilled the Capitol grounds and figured he would have to kill at least three police officers in order to get to Bessent. English “expressed acceptance and content with the possibility of suicide by cop,” the affidavit said.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
Law enforcement authorities arrested a man for desecrating a memorial honoring the late political activist Charlie Kirk over the weekend.
Fox News cameras were rolling as the man walked through the memorial, kicking over items including flowers, vases and flags. A mourner gathered at the memorial stepped in to stop the man’s sick actions. A man in a blue polo shirt is seen yanking the man out of the memorial and throwing him to the ground.
Phoenix police identified the alleged vandal as 19-year-old Ryder Corral. In video of Corral’s arrest, he appears to be wearing a shirt similar to the one worn by the man suspected of assassinating Kirk.
Watch:
Deranged leftist Ryder Corral, 19, desecrated a Charlie Kirk memorial at TPUSA headquarters in Arizona, kicking over flowers, vases, flags, and balloons while wearing the same clothing as 22-year-old assassin Tyler Robinson.
Corral was wearing a black shirt featuring an American flag and an eagle. The shirt resembles the shirt worn by Tyler Robinson when he allegedly shot and killed Kirk while he was speaking at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
Looks like the man who was just arrested after trampling Charlie Kirk’s memorial at Turning Point in Phoenix (R) might have been wearing the same type of patriotic shirt that Kirk’s alleged assassin wore on the day of the shooting. (L) pic.twitter.com/TX5QGBjPSR
Police also reported that neither Corral nor any of the witnesses who held him on the scene had sustained any injuries — and that the 19-year-old would face multiple charges, including “criminal damage and disorderly conduct.”
Local law enforcement then escorted Corral away from the area. He is now in custody at the Maricopa County Jail on one count of criminal damage and one count of disorderly conduct, according to Phoenix Police Department Public Information Sergeant Philip Krynsky.
On Friday, law enforcement officials arrested the man accused of shooting and killing Kirk, in Utah after a frantic 33-hour manhunt.
Kirk, a husband and father, was fatally struck by a single bullet Wednesday while speaking at an event on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem. Kirk was rushed to Timpanogos Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was 31 years old.
President Donald Trump said the young man who shot and killed Kirk had been “totally radicalized” and made “crazy” by liberal ideology, and also expressed sympathy for the suspect assassin’s parents, saying they seemed like “very nice people.”
The president’s comments were made while addressing a small crowd at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey on Saturday evening.
“So many things have been learned about [the shooter] so quickly,” Trump. said. “He’s become totally radicalized and crazy and it must have been traumatic. Because the parents are conservative people, supposed to be very nice people living in Utah.”
Trump continued: “The father turns in the son. Boy, that’s a tough deal.”
Trump at his golf club: “So many things have been learned about him so quickly. He’s become totally radicalized and crazy and it must have been traumatic because the parents are conservative people, supposed to be very nice people living it Utah.” pic.twitter.com/INZXlFCI2h
Additional information about Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspected killer, has been reported over the weekend.
Fox News and other outlets on Saturday reported Robinson was living with his trans partner at the time of the slaying, and that partner is now “fully cooperating” with the FBI on its investigation. The New York Times reported Robinson had scrawled the phrases “hey fascist! CATCH!” and “Bella Ciao,” which it said was “popularized as an antifascist anthem,” on bullet casings. And in a video clip that has went viral on X and elsewhere, a young man who said he was a former classmate of Robinson’s said he was a “Reddit kid” who had his brain warped by the social platform.
President Trump has said that he will attend Kirk’s funeral in Arizona this week, saying he has an “obligation” to do so.
President Donald Trump is threatening to primary Indiana Republicans for declining to gerrymander the state and add GOP seats to Congress.
The president has repeatedly urged GOP-led states like Indiana to redistrict and give Republicans an advantage in the 2026 midterms.
Trump took to Truth Social Sunday to put “RINO Senators” on notice for “depriving” Republicans of a House majority.
“Very disappointed in Indiana State Senate Republicans, led by RINO Senators Rod Bray and Greg Goode, for not wanting to redistrict their State, allowing the United States Congress to perhaps gain two more Republican seats,” Trump wrote.
“The Democrats have done redistricting for years, often illegally, and all other appropriate Republican States have done it. Because of these two politically correct type ‘gentlemen,’ and a few others, they could be depriving Republicans of a Majority in the House, A VERY BIG DEAL!”
Trump took a shot at California’s Prop 50 redistricting measure that passed overwhelmingly and allows the state to redraw congressional districts in favor of Democrats. Prop 50 was proposed after Texas approved redistricting in favor of Republicans.
“California is trying to pick up five seats, and no one is complaining about that. It’s weak ‘Republicans’ that cause our Country such problems — It’s why we have crazy Policies and Ideas that are so bad for America,” Trump wrote, continuing:
Also, a friend of mine, Governor Mike Braun, perhaps, is not working the way he should to get the necessary Votes. Considering that Mike wouldn’t be Governor without me (Not even close!), is disappointing! Any Republican that votes against this important redistricting, potentially having an impact on America itself, should be PRIMARIED. Indiana is a State with strong, smart, and patriotic people. They want us to see our Country WIN, and want to, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Senators Bray, Goode, and the others to be released to the public later this afternoon, should DO THEIR JOB, AND DO IT NOW! If not, let’s get them out of office, ASAP.
The Indiana state lawmaker was the target of a “swatting” incident just hours later, according to local authorities.
Sheriff Derek Fell said deputies were dispatched around 5 p.m. on Sunday after Terre Haute police received an email “advising harm had been done to persons inside a home, located in southeastern Vigo County.” Officers struggled to make contact at first, Fell said, but eventually confirmed the residents, including the senator, were safe.
Goode and his family “were secure, safe, and unharmed,” Fell said, adding that an investigation showed the threat was a hoax, “also known as ‘swatting.’”
In a brief statement, the senator said he and his family were “victims,” offering thanks to the sheriff and Terre Haute Police Chief Kevin Barrett for their “professionalism.”
The incident lands amid a tense and unusually public fight over redistricting in Indiana. GOP leaders froze the process on Friday when Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray refused to reconvene lawmakers to draw new maps favoring Republicans.
Earlier Sunday, Trump threatened to publish a list of GOP holdouts “later this afternoon,” though the promised names did not emerge.
Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who faces more than seven years behind bars after pleading guilty to wire fraud and identity theft, is seeking clemency from President Trump.
“I’ll take a commutation, clemency, whatever the president is willing to give me,” Santos told British media personality Piers Morgan in an episode of Morgan’s YouTube show “Uncensored” on Thursday.
“Seven years and three months in prison for a first-time offender over campaign matters just screams ‘over the top,’ and I would appreciate if the president would consider,” he added.
The disgraced former lawmaker also noted he is filling out paperwork to formally seek intervention from the White House before he reports to prison in July.
By U.S. House Office of Photography – https://santos.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/santos.house.gov/files/evo-media-image/rep_santos_george_official.jpg, Public Domain,
In his interview with Morgan, Santos blasted former Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland, whom Trump and other conservative allies have criticized and accused of weaponizing the Department of Justice against the president and his allies.
“I do believe this is an unfair judgment handed down to me,” he said Thursday. “I think there was a lot of politicization over the process.”
“Merrick Garland was by far the most disgraceful and disgraced political [attorney general] to ever serve in that capacity of the United States,” Santos said.
Santos was elected to represent New York’s affluent Long Island-centered 3rd District in 2022, becoming the first openly gay Republican to win a House seat as a nonincumbent before his fall from grace. The House expelled Santos from the chamber in a 311–114 vote in 2023, as ethics charges mounted against him.
Is FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino circling the drain? His former Fox News colleague says so.
On Sunday, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson essentially hosted a funeral for Bongino’s career and credibility after the former Fox contributor reportedly threatened to resign over Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
On Culture Apothecary, host Alex Clark asked Carlson to weigh in on the feud.
“Well, as we’re recording this, Dan Bongino is threatening to resign if Pam Bondi does not resign as AG. What does that tell us, in your opinion?” she inquired.
“Well, it tells us that Dan Bongino got shafted, completely shafted. And I’m saying this as a friend of his, and someone who respects and likes him, but also just as an observer, I’m an informed observer of it,” replied Carlson. “So Pam Bondi, who’s, by the way, I don’t hate Pam Bondi, she’s a totally nice person. If he was here, you would enjoy-, I don’t know if you know her, but she’s a very nice person. I’m not against Pam Bondi in the slightest. But the fact is she got on television on Fox News and started saying stuff like, ‘I’ve got the client list on my desk!’ And actually, no, you don’t. And, ‘I’ve got thousands of videos of Epstein having sex with kids.’ Well, actually, no, you don’t. Most of the material was commercial porn taken off his computer. Like, that’s just not true. Why did she say that? Probably because she’s insecure and she’s trying to please the audience, I would expect.”
“Do you think Dan is upset because his integrity is being questioned now over her mistake?” followed up Clark.
“Of course! Oh my gosh! So you’re Dan, and you’re a media figure, and you’ve got one of the biggest podcasts in the country, and you’re making tons of money, and you’re having a great time — which he was. You just built this brand new studio in Florida, you work with your wife who you really like, which he does, and you get the call saying, ‘You be deputy FBI director,’ and you’re like, ‘I love Donald Trump, I love this country. I will cut my pay into a 10th of what it was, and I will leave my house and move to D.C.,’ which is a kind of prison sentence itself,” answered Carlson. “‘And I will do this because I love the president, I love the country,’ and you’re there a few months, and all of a sudden everybody thinks you’re covering up Epstein’s crimes, and it kind of wrecks Dan’s career. Like he can’t go back-, it’s gonna be very hard at this point, I mean, things may change, but as of today, pretty hard for Dan to go back to his podcast audience and be like, ‘I’m telling you the truth,’ when they all think that he’s covering up for Epstein.”
“Who did that? Pam Bondi did that,” he added, before going on to say he “feel[s]” for Bongino.
The Justice Department last week released a memo concluding there was no evidence suggesting the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender kept a “client list” to blackmail high-profile individuals. The memo also found no evidence to suggest foul play in Epstein’s death, which had previously been ruled a suicide.
The memo spurred fierce backlash from many Trump supporters, who had long called on the government to release material on Epstein that they argue would expose wrongdoing at the highest level of elite circles.
Dan Bongino, the Deputy Director of the FBI, reportedly threatened to leave the bureau if Attorney General Pam Bondi remains on the job due to her handling of the Epstein files, a source close to Bongino told The Daily Wire.
One source close to Bongino predicted to Axios, “He ain’t coming back.”
CNN reports that Trump — who has been desperate to move past the Epstein story — was furious at Bongino, as well as FBI Director Kash Patel. Vice President JD Vance reportedly tried to hammer out a peace between the administration’s top Justice Department officials. But CNN reports that Bongino is still very much hanging by a thread.
“It remains to be seen if Bongino ultimately resigns, which he told others he was considering,” the CNN report stated. “But sources say his relationship with the White House has become basically untenable. Even if he does not quit now, some inside the administration believe he will not stay in the job long-term.”
However, President Donald Trump said on Sunday he believes FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is “in good shape” following a reported clash with Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“I spoke to him today,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews. “Dan Bongino, very good guy. I’ve known him a long time. I’ve done his show many, many times. And he sounded terrific actually. No, I think he’s in good shape.”
Watch: Discussion of the Epstein files begins around 14:14 in the video.
Former New York Republican congressman George Santos walked free on Friday after President Donald Trump commuted his federal sentence — but the move may not end his legal ordeal. A local prosecutor on Long Island appeared to signal that state-level charges could be used to sidestep the president’s act of clemency.
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said on the social platform X that her office had been “at the forefront” of the effort to “bring Santos to justice.” Donnelly’s jurisdiction includes part of the district Santos once represented in Congress.
“I am proud of the work my office has done, and the conviction achieved in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s office,” Donnelly said. “While the office cannot comment on ongoing investigations, suffice it to say that I remain focused on prosecuting political corruption wherever it exists regardless of political affiliation.”
Her statement — vague but pointed — has fueled speculation that prosecutors could seek state charges mirroring the federal case, a move critics say would effectively undermine Trump’s commutation and keep Santos entangled in the court system despite his early release.
A spokesperson for the Nassau County D.A.’s office declined to elaborate when asked whether an investigation was ongoing.
Trump’s Message: “Unequal Justice” and Political Targeting
Announcing the commutation on Truth Social, President Trump praised Santos’s “Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN,” suggesting the former lawmaker’s punishment was disproportionate.
“George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” Trump wrote.
Santos had served just 84 days of a seven-year sentence after pleading guilty last summer to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors had accused him of multiple financial and campaign-related offenses — including money laundering and falsifying records — but supporters argue that he faced harsher treatment because of his party affiliation and outspoken loyalty to Trump.
Possible State Move Seen as Political
Republicans are already warning that a state prosecution would represent another example of “lawfare” — the use of legal mechanisms to target political opponents.
Santos himself, who had initially said he wouldn’t seek clemency before later telling interviewer Piers Morgan he’d accept “whatever the president is willing to give me,” has yet to comment on Donnelly’s remarks.
For now, the former congressman is free — but the signals from Nassau County suggest that the battle between Trump’s justice reform message and New York’s prosecutors may be far from over.
A 17-year-old Wisconsin teen accused of killing his mother and stepfather had also plotted to assassinate President Donald Trump to start a “political revolution,” according to court documents.
Nikita Casap, 17, had images and messages on his phone that referenced a “self-described manifesto regarding assassinating the president, making bombs, and terrorist attacks,” FOX6 Milwaukee reported, citing a search warrant filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Images of a three-page document titled “Accelerate the Collapse” called for the assassination of Trump, according to the report.
‼️17 year-old Nikita Casap charged in parents murder, plotted to assassinate President Trump.
Authorities say he was also affiliated with a RACIST satanic neo-Nazi group.
Nikita Casap, only 17YO, was charged with the 1st degree murder of his parents and hiding their corpses. He lived with their dead bodies for at leat 12 days. They were decomposed beyond recognition.
— Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) April 14, 2025
Trump was specifically referenced in an excerpt from the document, which said “getting rid of the president and perhaps the vice president” is “guaranteed to bring in some chaos. … Point being this manifesto is specifically for the attack that targets Trump.”
Casap was charged earlier this month in the shooting deaths of his mother, Tatiana Casap, and his stepfather, Donald Mayer. The couple were found severely decomposed in their home on Feb 28 – more than two weeks after prosecutors allege Casap killed them.
During an interview with one of Casap’s classmates, authorities learned that Casap told the female classmate he had been in contact with a man from Russia, who they claim knew about the teen’s scheme to take passports, a car and the family dog and flee to Ukraine, according to the report.
A recent study by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) has revealed a concerning trend: a significant portion of left-leaning Americans believe that political violence, including assassination, is justifiable against figures such as President Donald Trump and the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk. The study surveyed over 1,200 U.S. adults and found that 38% of respondents felt that assassinating Trump would be at least “somewhat justified,” with this figure rising to 55% among those identifying as left-leaning. Similarly, 31% of overall participants, and 48% of left-leaning individuals, expressed some level of justification for assassinating Musk.
This data suggests a troubling normalization of violent political rhetoric within certain segments of the population. The NCRI report highlights that this shift has been particularly pronounced following the December 2024 assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, allegedly by Luigi Mangione. Mangione’s actions have been glamorized in various online communities, leading to a proliferation of memes and discussions that endorse political violence.
