Florida fighting with the U.S. Justice Department over prosecuting Ryan Routh

MIAMI — Florida’s Attorney General is asking a federal judge to stop the U.S. Justice Department from blocking the state from investigating and prosecuting Ryan Routh. Routh is charged with attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump while he was golfing in September.

Deputies arrested Routh after fleeing from what the FBI says was a “sniper’s nest” at Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach. He’s charged with several counts, including attempting to assassinate a major Presidential candidate. Routh has pleaded not guilty.

Shortly after his arrest, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state would open its own investigation. At a news conference, DeSantis questioned whether the Justice Department, which is prosecuting Trump in two criminal cases, can handle Routh’s prosecution fairly and transparently.

The federal government quickly blocked that move. Justice Department officials cited a law which gives the federal government superseding authority over state investigations in cases like this. In a letter to Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, U.S. Attorney for Florida’s Southern District Markenzy Lapointe said that the federal indictment of Routh on a charge of attempted assassination “resolves any potential uncertainty” about whether the federal law preempting the state’s authority applies.

That same law, Lapointe says, “does not preclude state prosecutions permissibly following the conclusion of the federal prosecution.”

Moody has filed a complaint in federal court asking a judge to overrule the Justice Department’s action and allow the state’s investigation of Routh to go forward. She says forcing Florida to wait to begin its investigation until the federal government completes its prosecution makes the state’s case harder to prove at trial. “Evidence disappears, memories fade, and the State has no way to force the federal government to cooperate.”

By blocking the state’s investigation and prosecution of Routh, she says the federal government is illegally taking authority from the state guaranteed under the Constitution’s 10th amendment. “The federal government’s attempt to thwart Florida’s investigation vastly overreads (the law),” Moody says, “and any enforcement of it would constitute illegal executive action.”

It's not clear when the federal judge will rule on the request.