A man who authorities say staked out Donald Trump for 12 hours on his golf course in Florida and wrote of his desire to kill him has been indicted on charges that he attempted to assassinate a major presidential candidate.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, had been initially charged with two federal firearms offences.
The upgraded charges reflect the Justice Department's assessment that he methodically plotted to kill the Republican nominee, aiming a rifle through the shrubbery surrounding Trump's West Palm Beach golf course on an afternoon Trump was playing on it.
Routh left behind a note in which he described his intention.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland called the attempted assassination a "heinous act" on Tuesday, and said the Justice Department will "spare no resource " on the case.
"The Justice Department will not tolerate violence that strikes at the heart of our democracy, and we will find and hold accountable those who perpetrate it. This must stop," Attorney General Garland said in a statement.
The Department of Justice said a federal grand jury in Miami returned the indictment late Tuesday afternoon.
The attempted assassination charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The case has been assigned to US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed a criminal case in July accusing Trump of illegally keeping classified documents after leaving office.
Routh has not yet entered a plea.
His lawyers unsuccessfully sought to have him released on bond.
Prosecutors have in recent days revealed evidence they said pointed toward a plan to kill Trump.
They alleged that months before the incident, Routh dropped off a letter to an unidentified person alluding to "an assassination attempt on Donald Trump."
They said Routh spent a month in South Florida and cell phone data showed him near the golf course and Trump's Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago.
He was found with a handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump spoke or was expected to appear, according to court filings.
