The jury has been seated for the high-profile federal trial of Ryan Routh, the North Carolina man accused of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club last September, when Trump was a leading candidate in the 2024 election.

After three days of jury selection that began Monday, 12 jurors and four alternates were chosen. The panel includes six white women, four white men, one Black woman and one Black man. The alternates are two white women and two white men. Opening statements are set for Thursday morning in Fort Pierce, Florida, where prosecutors are expected to launch their case immediately.

Three groups of 60 potential jurors went through the selection process, where prosecutors and Routh — who is representing himself — asked potential jurors questions to assess if they could fairly participate in the trial. 

During Wednesday’s session, Routh said he wanted to raise an objection due to the prosecution eliminating two potential jurors who were Black.

‘I want to raise that we have a racist situation,’ Routh said. 

But the prosecution said that one of the potential jurors was Haitian and would face language barriers, and that they had no knowledge the other was Black. 

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon eliminated a potential juror for the trial because the woman asserted, ‘I am MAGA.’ According to Cannon, the statement showed ‘self-declared bias.’ 

Another woman was eliminated as a potential juror for saying she ‘only follows God’s law’ on a questionnaire. 

During Monday’s session, Routh’s questions for potential jurors included their views on the war in Gaza, their position on the U.S. potentially acquiring Greenland as the president has floated, and how they would act if they were driving and spotted a turtle in the middle of the road.

In response, Cannon labeled them ‘politically charged,’ and said that they were unnecessary for jury selection. 

Prosecutors claim that Routh sought to kill Trump for weeks, and staked out a spot in shrubbery on Sept. 15, 2024 when a Secret Service agent detected him pointing a rifle at Trump while the then-presidential candidate played golf at his West Palm Beach country club. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, but abandoned his weapon at the scene after the Secret Service agents opened fire. 

Routh was later apprehended by the Martin County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office on the I-95 interstate in a black Nissan Xterra. 

Routh faces federal charges including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, as well as assaulting a federal officer and various gun violations. The charges carry a potential life sentence if the jury finds him guilty. Meanwhile, Routh has maintained he’s innocent and pleaded not guilty to all federal charges, in addition to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder. 

Routh was previously convicted of felonies in North Carolina in 2002 and 2010. 

The court has allocated four weeks for Routh’s trial, although it is expected to wrap up sooner. 

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph, Olivianna Calmes, Jake Gibson, Heather Lacey and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

All but two Senate Republicans banded together to kill a surprise push from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to force the release of the ‘Epstein files.’ 

Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., joined Senate Democrats in voting against the move from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to table Schumer’s amendment to Congress’ annual defense authorization bill. 

Schumer announced on the Senate floor on Wednesday that he planned to file an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would require Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all the files and documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.

He later told reporters that his amendment was effectively the same as the discharge petition in the House being pushed by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

‘There’s been so much lying, obfuscation, cover-ups,’ Schumer said. ‘The American people need to see everything that’s in the Epstein files. And my amendment would make that happen.’

The Epstein drama that has gripped the House has so far been more muted in the Senate, with only a pair of dust-ups between Sens. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., in late July, plus a push from Senate Democrats to eat away floor time last month.

But Schumer’s surprise move to file an amendment and force a vote on it comes as Republicans and Democrats are negotiating the annual defense bill, and further, trying to find a middle ground on a government funding extension ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline.

A Senate Republican source told Fox News Digital that Schumer’s move was ‘an extremely hostile act.’

‘We were actively involved in bipartisan negotiations and this could jeopardize that,’ the source said.

The Epstein fervor reignited, however, when a card from the late pedophile’s ‘birthday book’ was revealed earlier this week that was allegedly sent by President Donald Trump.

The card, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, featured a message and drawing and has what appears to be Trump’s signature at the bottom, and it was sent to the House Oversight Committee by the Epstein estate.

The White House has vehemently denied the veracity of the card and also disputed that it was Trump’s signature.

When asked why Democrats never released the files when former President Joe Biden was in power, Schumer pivoted back to Trump.

‘Look, the bottom line is the American people need to see this,’ Schumer said. ‘Donald Trump has lied about this. There was no picture. There was no drawing. There have been so many lies, so much prevarication, so much cover-up.’

‘The American people, Democrats, Independents, Republicans are demanding it be made public,’ he continued. ‘And it should be. We hope Republicans will vote for it. They should.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

The horrific assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk Wednesday is the latest entry in a grim and growing tally of conservative figures and institutions being targeted for violence, vandalism and murder.

The fatal shooting follows a lengthy recent history of conservatives and Republicans facing violence, a Fox News Digital review of the last four years found, including two assassination attempts against President Donald Trump in a roughly two-month span in 2024. 

Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University as part of his ‘American Comeback Tour’ when shots rang out and he collapsed on stage. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.  

The 31-year-old husband and father was a staunch ally of President Donald Trump’s, and toured the nation promoting right-of-center ideology to youths, most notably on college campuses. He founded his conservative group more than a dozen years ago.

Conservatives and pro-life nonprofits have been targeted with shootings, arson, and vandalism in just the past four years.

Trump himself has faced two assassination attempts, including on July 13, 2024, when he was shot in the ear while joining a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooting rocked the election cycle as Trump rose, bleeding and defiant, and urged the crowd to ‘Fight, fight, fight.’ The assassination attempt came just two days before the Republican National Convention was set to kick off in Milwaukee. 

Trump appeared at the convention while wearing a bandage on his ear, and noted how he ‘had God on my side’ during the attempt. The motive of the would-be assassin, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service sniper, remains unclear. The FBI has pointed to a complex web of personal grievances, mental health issues and a desire for notoriety as leading to the act, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

Just weeks later on Sept. 15, 2024, Trump was rushed off of his golf course in Florida when shots rang out. The suspect in that assassination attempt case, Ryan Routh, posted prolifically about Trump, the 2024 election and politics in the lead up to the attempt, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

Routh is going on trial Thursday over the case, and described the president as an ‘insecure ego idiot-mad fool’ in court documents in September, the New York Post reported. 

Attacks on conservatives have unfolded at the grassroots level, as well, including this year when the New Mexico Republican Party’s headquarters faced an arson attack. The attack destroyed the entrance to the headquarters, while graffiti reading ‘ICE=KKK’ scrawled on the building. 

The suspect in that case, who also allegedly attacked a Tesla Albuquerque Showroom, was hit with federal charges as Attorney General Pam Bondi pointed to the incident as a disturbing case of political violence.

TPUSA chapters around the nation have also faced other incidents of violence this year, including when a group of students with Turning Point USA at UC Davis were attacked by masked individuals in April, Fox Digital reported at the time. 

The conservative group was in the midst of hosting a ‘Prove me Wrong’ event with a guest speaker when protesters destroyed camera gear, a tent, event signage, flipped tables, and assaulted group staff, TPUSA said at the time. 

Looking back at 2023, former NCAA swimmer and conservative political activist Riley Gaines was also attacked and barricaded in a room at San Francisco State University following a speech to students promoting a ban on biological males from playing in women’s sports. The event was part of a Turning Point USA and Leadership Institute forum on campus. 

Churches and pro-life groups have also faced dozens upon dozens of attacks beginning in 2022 in response to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which effectively ended the recognition of abortion as a constitutional right. 

The attacks included a pro-life center that was ‘firebombed’ in Buffalo, New York, in 2022, Catholic churches that were vandalized and set on fire, and pro-choice protesters interrupting church services and Catholic masses. The attacks followed a radical pro-choice group declaring in a public letter that it was ‘open season’ on pro-lifers.

In 2017, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., was shot along with three others when James Hodgkinson, a deranged supporter of Bernie Sanders, sprayed an Alexandria, Virginia, baseball field with gunfire as Republican lawmakers practiced for the annual Congressional Baseball Game. Scalise nearly died, but recovered and remains in office.

The fatal shooting of Kirk on Wednesday has not yet yielded a suspect, with the FBI and ATF on the ground and investigating, according to Bondi. 

Trump, as well as members of his Cabinet, have offered an outpouring of support to Kirk’s family following the tragedy. 

‘The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,’ Trump said on Truth Social on Wednesday. ‘No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!’

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano, Stepheny Price, and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report. 

The House of Representatives passed its version of Congress’ annual defense bill on Wednesday evening, albeit along stunningly partisan lines.

For decades, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has seen support from a majority of Democrats and Republicans. That’s changed in recent years, however, and the trend appears to have continued with the fiscal year (FY) 2026 bill.

The legislation passed 231-196 after a lengthy series of votes, with 17 Democrats voting in favor and 192 against. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and other top Democrats opposed the bill.

Democratic lawmakers had spent hours beforehand railing against GOP-led amendments on mainly transgender issues, including several which were successfully voted into the bill.

Multiple amendments by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., for instance, placing limits on spaces that transgender service academy cadets can access, passed along mostly partisan lines.

Another amendment by Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., aimed at eliminating the preference for motor vehicles using electric or hybrid propulsion systems and related requirements of the Department of Defense, passed with mostly Republicans – although six Democrats joined in approving it as well.

Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., introduced an amendment aimed at preventing pride flags or other ideological banners being displayed on military installations, which also passed along nearly partisan lines.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, announced on Tuesday that he would vote against final passage of the bill if certain GOP-led amendments made it into the final piece.

Smith also ripped Republicans for not allowing House-wide votes on solely Democrat-led amendments in the bill, all of which were filtered out when the House Rules Committee was considering the legislation earlier this week.

‘There are a number of problematic amendments included in the rule that focus on divisive topics rather than strengthening our national security. Should these amendments be adopted, I will vote against final passage of the bill,’ Smith said in a statement.
 
‘For 65 years, the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act has been a testament to shared respect for the duty of Congress to provide for the common defense and to place the needs of America’s national security and national defense above politics. The rule undermines this long-standing tradition by failing to include meaningful amendments offered by Democrats to address critical issues.’

Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., earlier spoke out against the amendments targeting transgender issues as well.

‘Many people in this body have received gender-affirming care. Filler is gender-affirming care. Boob jobs is gender-affirming care. Botox is gender-affirming care,’ Jacobs said.

It prompted an angry response from Mace, ‘That is ridiculous! You are absolutely ridiculous.’

Four Republicans voted against the bill in addition to the dozens of Democrats, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., longtime skeptics of foreign aid funding in the NDAA.

Democrats who voted in favor of the bill include Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., Don Davis, D-N.C., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas.

The NDAA is an annually passed bill that sets defense and national security policy goals for the U.S.

The Senate is expected to consider its own version of the bill as well, after which the two chambers must compromise and consider them again before they get to President Donald Trump’s desk for a signature.

Lawmakers bridged the partisan divide on Wednesday after news that conservative activist Charlie Kirk, 31, was killed from a gunshot wound. 

Prayers for Kirk’s recovery on social media swiftly turned into condolences to his family and a widespread condemnation of political violence from both Republicans and Democrats. 

‘It’s devastating news,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said. ‘The idea that political violence has taken one of the strongest voices on the conservative side is a great heartbreak. Charlie was a close friend of mine and a confidant, and he will be sorely missed, and we need every political leader to decry the violence and to do it loudly. The problem is in the human heart, and it’s gotten out of hand.’

‘This is beyond terrible,’ Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said. ‘Charlie Kirk was a husband, father, and son. Violence is never the answer. Sydney and I are keeping the Kirk family in our prayers.’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., addressed Kirk’s death on the Senate floor and said that ‘political violence, which this attack seems to be, has no place in this country — none.’ 

‘I’m deeply disturbed about the threat of violence that has entered our political life, and I pray that we will remember that every person, no matter how vehement our disagreement with them, is a human being and a fellow American deserving of respect and protection,’ he said. 

President Donald Trump confirmed the news on Truth Social and said, ‘No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.’ 

Kirk was shot during an event on his ‘American Comeback Tour’ at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. The university initially said that a suspect was in custody but later announced that the person was released.

Campus police on Wednesday afternoon asked students to call a hotline and be escorted off.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called Kirk ‘an American patriot, an inspiration to countless young people to stand up and defend the timeless truths that make our country great.’ 

‘This murder was a cowardly act of violence, an attack on champions of freedom like Charlie, the students who gathered for civil debate, and all Americans who peacefully strive to save our nation,’ he said. 

‘The terrorists will not win,’ he continued. ‘Charlie will. Please join me in praying for his wife Erika and their children. May justice be swift.’

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., urged, ‘We must collectively find a way forward during these polarized times.’ 

His death follows a wave of high-profile political assassination attempts in an increasingly polarized political environment. 

Trump survived two separate assassination attempts within weeks of each other while running for re-election in 2024. Meanwhile, a gunman in Minnesota shot and killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, while critically injuring another state lawmaker, this past June.

Ryan Routh – accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump when he was a major candidate in the 2024 election at his Florida golf club last year – has chosen to represent himself in court, a decision one legal expert says could prove disastrous.

Cully Simson, a former prosecutor, defense attorney and judge, told Fox News Digital that while the Constitution guarantees the right to self-representation, it’s ‘almost always a mistake.’

‘It really makes no sense for somebody to defend themselves, especially in a serious case,’ he said. ‘They have the right to do it, but it’s not prudent.’ 

Self-representation creates risks and an unusual courtroom dynamic where the judge and prosecutor ‘have to pull their punches’ to protect the record, and essentially ‘protect the defendant from himself.’

A seasoned defense attorney knows how to put prosecutors to the test, forcing them to prove every element of the case and carefully laying the groundwork for potential appeals. When a defendant represents himself, Simson said, that kind of strategy is completely missing.

‘And so what ends up happening is the judge and the prosecutor has to play, in a weird way, a defensive role, in addition to the role of the judge being a neutral and impartial arbiter of the law, and the prosecutor just be the person who advocates on behalf of the government. You have to essentially protect the defendant from himself, and that is so much more difficult,’ he said.

Simson said defense attorneys typically ‘push the envelope’ and force the government to object, but when someone is representing themselves, lawyers hold back ‘because he’s not going to be smart enough or educated enough to object.’

This can sometimes create an atmosphere where a ‘right to a fair trial’ can become skewed – and it’s something law students study, too.

‘That’s that sophisticated point that law students talk about, and lawyers talk about. If you had a public defender or a private defense counsel who wasn’t very good and made a number of mistakes during the trial, if the guy’s convicted, one of the first things on appeal is you’ll claim ineffective assistance of counsel,’ Simson said.

‘You can’t claim ineffective assistance of counsel when you represent yourself.’

When asked if there were any pros to self-representation in a federal trial, Simson said, ‘I guess one pro would be to conduct his defense exactly how he wanted to.’

‘For example, in the Long Island shooter case, no criminal defense attorney was going to let that nut job act out in court and be the wacko he was,’ he said.

As in the notorious 1993 Long Island Rail Road case, convicted killer Colin Ferguson chose to represent himself and even took the witness stand to question his own victims. 

Routh has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate and assaulting a federal officer. Prosecutors say he was armed with an AK-style rifle when Secret Service agents stopped him near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach in September 2024.

The trial is expected to last several weeks, but Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon urged both sides to keep proceedings efficient.

Opening statements are tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 11, if the panel is seated on time.