A man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course last year will be allowed to represent himself at trial, a court has ruled.
Ryan Routh, 59, is charged with trying to assassinate then-candidate Trump by aiming a rifle through a fence at his West Palm Beach golf course.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon approved his request to represent himself at trial, but ordered court-appointed attorneys to remain on standby. "I strongly urge you not to make this decision," Judge Cannon told Routh, warning that his lawyers would represent him "far better".
Routh says his attorneys were not answering his questions and that they were "a million miles apart".
"[I]t was ridiculous from the outset to consider a random stranger that knows nothing of who I am to speak for me," he wrote in a letter to the judge asking to represent himself.
