Trump accuses DOJ of ‘mishandling and downplaying’ second assassination plot

Former President Donald Trump accused the Justice Department of “downplaying” an alleged assassination plot against him this month and suggested state officials in Florida should take over the investigation and prosecution.

“The Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Department of Justice and FBI are mishandling and downplaying the second assassination attempt on my life since July. The charges brought against the maniac assassin are a slap on the wrist,” Trump said in a statement Monday, alleging they have a conflict of interest “since they have been obsessed with ‘Getting Trump’ for so long.”

Federal prosecutors charged Ryan Routh with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number after, authorities said, he was seen with a long gun lying in wait on Sept. 15 outside Trump International Golf Club, where Trump was golfing. The Justice Department hasn’t ruled out filing additional charges, and it has hinted that it intends to file more. It is common for the Justice Department to file initial charges and later additional charges after it ensures the necessary evidence and information has been gathered.

At a hearing Monday in federal court in Florida, a prosecutor told the judge that Routh had been in Florida “for one reason only, and that was to kill former President Trump.”

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s remarks.

It was a deeply political statement from Trump, who after the first assassination attempt initially avoided partisan rhetoric around it, but this time he has not. Harris and Biden have condemned political violence and reached out to Trump after both attempts.

Trump has attacked the Justice Department for years, accusing it of targeting him after it brought charges against him in two separate cases.

The Trump statement rattled off various Justice Department investigations into him over the years, including the probe into Russian election interference in 2016 and prosecutions alleging he mishandled classified documents and tried to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“If the DOJ and FBI cannot do their job honestly and without bias, and hold the aspiring assassin responsible to the full extent of the Law, Governor Ron DeSantis and the State of Florida have already agreed to take the lead on the investigation and prosecution. Florida charges would be much more serious than the ones the FBI has announced,” he wrote. “Let Florida handle the case,” he wrote in all capital letters.

DeSantis issued an executive order last week ordering a state investigation into the incident.

In a letter Monday to FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe, whose office is leading the investigation, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody wrote that the state “understandably desires to investigate violations of its own laws, including attempted murder,” and urged them to share evidence with her investigation.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said at an event last week, “The entire Justice Department, including in particular the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, the National Security Division, are all coordinating closely with our local, state, law enforcement partners on the ground” on the investigation and will “work together to tirelessly determine accountability in this matter.”

“We will spare no resource in this investigation,” he said.

A Secret Service agent spotted Routh in the brush on Sept. 15 and shot at him, officials said. Routh was arrested a short time later and has been ordered to be detained until trial. In arguing for his continued detention Monday, prosecutors revealed that he had written a letter this month that said, “This was an assassination attempt.”

He is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 30.

Trump was the victim of an assassination attempt on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was shot in the ear during a rally. Three sources familiar with his campaign’s planning told NBC News he plans to return to Butler for an event on Oct. 5 — one month before Election Day.