Politics
Ron DeSantis’ political maneuvering on Trump suspect could have legal consequences
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order Tuesday directing state authorities to investigate Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. The governor downplayed the federal charges brought Monday against suspect Ryan Routhsaying, “To say you’re going to do a couple gun charges, that is not going to be sufficient to do it.”
Routh has been charged in federal court with two gun possession counts. But as I noted at the time, those aren’t necessarily the final word on his federal charges. Those charges might have just been the simplest that federal prosecutors in Florida could bring while the government investigates in advance of potentially bringing more serious charges later.
Yet DeSantis implied that the feds have not been doing everything they could — or that whatever they could do isn’t enough. The governor’s remarks cast doubt on the federal effort generally, suggesting it would be more appropriate for state authorities to take the lead.
Of course, it’s not unusual for both state and federal law enforcement to investigate potential crimes that could be charged in their respective courts. And double jeopardy rules don’t bar the same conduct from being charged at both levels.
But it could be counterproductive for DeSantis to create a wedge between the state and the feds if the goal is to bring the strongest possible case against Routh. To the extent that state and federal authorities don’t fully cooperate with one another, that could be inefficient at the investigative stage. It could also create potential issues at any eventual trial(s) if they aren’t on the same page and each side isn’t fully aware of evidence that the other has — or if their separate evidence is at all contradictory. Relatedly, neither state nor federal prosecutors should want a situation where one or the other is rushing to be first to bring the most serious charges.
And while DeSantis suggested that more serious crimes like attempted murder couldn’t be brought federally, that’s not necessarily so. Indeed, it wouldn’t be surprising if more serious charges are brought as the case proceeds in federal court while Routh remains in custody.
To be sure, attempted murder charges could face challenges at either the state or federal level, which may be why Routh wasn’t immediately charged with such a crime federally. That Routh apparently didn’t fire any shots before allegedly fleeing the scene would not prevent him from being charged with attempted murder. For example, Nicholas Roske, who’s charged with attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, didn’t fire a weapon, though statements he allegedly made to law enforcement admitting his intentions may have made it easier to charge him quickly.
When it comes to the charge of attempted murder, the legal question is whether the defendant took a “substantial step” toward committing the crime, as opposed to “mere preparation.” Routh allegedly was lying in wait with a rifle at Trump’s golf course, so prosecutors may be able to prove an attempt. Prosecutors may be considering whether they have enough evidence to make that argument — or they may already feel confident that they can bring such a case, but given that Routh isn’t going anywhere while he’s being held on the gun charges, they feel they can take the time to collect evidence to build the case.
Whatever comes of the charges against Routh, any discrepancies that result from different law enforcement investigations moving forward could wind up working to his benefit in the end.
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Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro,” a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined BLN, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore the government-run Voice of America’s operations after it had effectively been shut down a year ago, putting hundreds of employees who have been on administrative leave back to work.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth gave the U.S. Agency for Global Media a week to put together a plan for putting Voice of America on the air. It has been operating with a skeleton staff since President Donald Trump issued an executive order to shut it down.
A week ago, Lamberth said Kari Lake, who had been Trump’s choice to lead the agency, did not have the legal authority to do what she had done at Voice of America. In Tuesday’s decision, Lamberth ruled on the actions she had taken to respond to Trump’s order, essentially shelving 1,042 of VOA’s 1,147 employees.
“Defendants have provided nothing approaching a principled basis for their decision,” Lamberth wrote.
There was no immediate comment on the decision by the agency overseeing Voice of America. Lake had denounced Lamberth’s March 7 ruling, saying it would be appealed. Since then, Trump nominated Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to run USAGM. That requires Senate approval, a step that was not taken with Lake.
Patsy Widakuswara, Voice of America’s White House bureau chief and a plaintiff in the lawsuit to restore it, said she is deeply grateful for the decision.
“We are eager to begin repairing the damage Kari Lake has inflicted on our agency and our colleagues, to return to our congressional mandate, and to rebuild the trust of the global audience we have been unable to serve for the past year,” she said.
“We know the road to restoring VOA’s operations and reputation will be long and difficult,” she said. “We hope the American people will continue to support our mission to produce journalism, not propaganda.”
Voice of America has transmitted news coverage to countries around the world since its formation in World War II, often in countries with no tradition of a free press. Before Trump’s executive order, VOA had operated in 49 different languages, broadcasting to 362 million people.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore the government-run Voice of America’s operations after it had effectively been shut down a year ago, putting hundreds of employees who have been on administrative leave back to work.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth gave the U.S. Agency for Global Media a week to put together a plan for putting Voice of America on the air. It has been operating with a skeleton staff since President Donald Trump issued an executive order to shut it down.
A week ago, Lamberth said Kari Lake, who had been Trump’s choice to lead the agency, did not have the legal authority to do what she had done at Voice of America. In Tuesday’s decision, Lamberth ruled on the actions she had taken to respond to Trump’s order, essentially shelving 1,042 of VOA’s 1,147 employees.
“Defendants have provided nothing approaching a principled basis for their decision,” Lamberth wrote.
There was no immediate comment on the decision by the agency overseeing Voice of America. Lake had denounced Lamberth’s March 7 ruling, saying it would be appealed. Since then, Trump nominated Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to run USAGM. That requires Senate approval, a step that was not taken with Lake.
Patsy Widakuswara, Voice of America’s White House bureau chief and a plaintiff in the lawsuit to restore it, said she is deeply grateful for the decision.
“We are eager to begin repairing the damage Kari Lake has inflicted on our agency and our colleagues, to return to our congressional mandate, and to rebuild the trust of the global audience we have been unable to serve for the past year,” she said.
“We know the road to restoring VOA’s operations and reputation will be long and difficult,” she said. “We hope the American people will continue to support our mission to produce journalism, not propaganda.”
Voice of America has transmitted news coverage to countries around the world since its formation in World War II, often in countries with no tradition of a free press. Before Trump’s executive order, VOA had operated in 49 different languages, broadcasting to 362 million people.
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