Son of man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump pleads not guilty to federal child porn charges

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) – A man charged in the alleged attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life appeared in court earlier this week.

Oran Routh, 35, was in federal court Tuesday for a detention hearing after he was arrested in late September. The arrest came when authorities searched his home “in connection with an investigation unrelated to child exploitation” and reportedly found child sex abuse material.

Investigators have found “hundreds” of files, along with messaging apps that investigators say are often used by people who exchange child abuse material, according to court documents.

“These files contain videos from a known child pornography series created outside of the state of North Carolina,” reads the complaint filed with the court, describing it as a video showing an adult with children between the ages of 8 and 10 .

He faces two charges: possession of child pornography and receiving child pornography.

Oran Routh appeared in court on Tuesday, where a judge released him into the custody of his mother before his trial. He pleaded not guilty to both counts.

Federal court records show his trial will begin in December.

Background

The “investigation not related to child exploitation” that authorities referred to at the time of his arrest was the arrest of Oran Routh’s father, Ryan, after he was reportedly seen with a gun on Trump’s golf course while the former president was golfing on Sunday, September 15.

Ryan Routh was arrested about forty-five minutes after the Secret Service opened fire on him, miles from the golf course where a backpack, the gun he allegedly used and a GoPro camera were found. He was initially charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a firearm with a destroyed serial number. Then, he was indicted by a grand jury on additional chargesincluding attempted murder. He remains in custody.

Ryan Routh had lived in Greensboro most of his life and was well known in the community for law enforcement in the area before moving to Hawaii with his youngest son, not Oran Routh, around 2018.

A friend of Ryan Routh was in possession of a box containing a note detailing his desire to kill Trumpsay researchers.

“Dear world, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I’m so sorry I let you down. I did my best and gave it all I could muster,” the alleged letter reads.

A woman who knew him during the time he spent in Ukraine described him as a “ticking time bomb.” to authorities long before the assassination attempt, telling the Associated Press: “Ryan was the kind of guy who would blow up a building on Tuesday just because he felt like it.”