Florida Sues DOJ for Stopping State’s Probe Into Trump Assassination Attempt
So, if the DOJ asserted jurisdiction after DeSantis’s executive order, can the agency use § 351(f) to stop Florida’s investigation?
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a complaint against the DOJ after the agency blocked the state from investigating the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Ryan Routh faces charges for allegedly wanting to kill Trump at his golf course in Florida.
Federal prosecutors charged Routh with federal gun crimes. Federal prosecutors also asked the DOJ “to approve the more serious attempted assassination charge, which carries a maximum of life in prison.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed “an executive order directing agencies to ensure that appropriate state charges are brought against” Routh.
The DOJ and FBI “cited 18 U.S.C. § 351(f), which purports to temporarily ‘suspend the exercise of jurisdiction by a State or local authority’ when the federal government asserts jurisdiction over an assassination attempt of a major presidential candidate.”
18 U.S. Code § 351(f) states: “If Federal investigative or prosecutive jurisdiction is asserted for a violation of this section, such assertion shall suspend the exercise of jurisdiction by a State or local authority, under any applicable State or local law, until Federal action is terminated.”
Moody said federal officials told Florida officials the state “may not conduct its own investigation, may not interview witnesses, and may only cooperate with the federal government’s investigation.”
“Because § 351(f) does not prohibit such conduct, and because it would violate the Tenth Amendment if it reached so far, Florida sues to vindicate its sovereign interest to investigate violations of state law, as delay may impact the outcome of any prosecution,” added Moody.
Moody pointed out that the DOJ did not add the assassination charges against Routh until after DeSantis issued his executive order:
Only a few days after Governor DeSantis signed the Executive Order, FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri called the FDLE Special Agent in Charge in Fort Pierce. During that phone call, Mr. Veltri directed FDLE to 18 U.S.C. § 351(f).
Mr. Veltri did so even though, at that time, the federal government had only charged Mr. Routh with firearms related charges and had not charged him for attempted assassination under § 351.
The DOJ didn’t ask for the charges until Moody sent a letter to the FBI, demanding to know if the DOJ “formally invoked” § 351(f).
Moody’s question is important because, as I stated above, § 351(f) says the state must suspend its investigation if the federal government asserts jurisdiction.
So, if the DOJ asserted jurisdiction after DeSantis’s executive order, can the agency use § 351(f) to stop Florida’s investigation?
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Some non-lawyer squinting at this. If I get this right, the Feds are asserting the law allows them to take over all investigation and prosecution of this crime, while Florida is saying “Wait a minute. The law only says you have full authority over the *prosecution* of the crime, but we can still investigate just like you are, and in fact are *required* to investigate for potential State charges should you geniuses in the Feds muck up your case beyond recovery so this schmuck doesn’t go free because you assigned bozos to Team Fed.
About right?
As I read this, the DOJ formally charged the man with attempted assassination not because they think he’s an assassin, but to stop the state from determining whether he’s an assassin. Now that they’ve charged him, 18 U.S. Code § 351(f) indeed appears to require the state to stop its investigation.
Which means (assuming Kamala wins) they can slow-roll the federal ‘investigation’ for the next four plus years. Any good prosecutor can obtain delay after delay. “It’s a complex case, yer Honor!” When they finally dismiss the charges in early 2029, it will be too late for Florida to do anything about it.
A reading of the statute, and the Florida AG’s brief, suggests that the law bars the state from exercising jurisdiction (arrest and prosecution) until the Federal action ends, but does not bar them from investigating.
Florida should demand to be part of the investigation, sitting in on every witness interrogation and having access to all material evidence. Florida needs to preserve witness statements and material evidence for its own investigation even if it’s forced to wait until later. Waiting until later to acquire access to witnesses and evidence allows the feds ample time to ruin the State’s future investigation by the intimidation of witnesses and the “loss” or alteration of crucial evidence.
Florida can’t demand anything from the feds. It can request, but the DOJ doesn’t have to agree.
But Moody is saying no law prevents Florida from conducting its own investigation, and the DOJ’s assertions to the contrary are fabrications not authorized by the law. And that if they were so authorized, then the law would be unconstitutional and thus invalid.
Who has Routh in custody?
Feds. He’s being held at FDC Miami.
Florida should tell the DOJ to pound sand, ignore them.
Exactly! I’m sick of these all talk and no action Republicans, Tell the DOJ to pound sand and continue investigating. Same in VA, a judge ordered the Guv to place self acknowledged non citizens on the voter rolls and what did the Repubs do? Did Jim Jordan file articles of impeachment? All Republican seem to do is cry like babies
Judges can’t be impeached just because the House doesn’t like their decisions. That would be an abuse of process and an infringement of the separation of powers, and if the House tried it the Supreme Court would probably strike it down.
the VA judge’s decision was correct. Federal law explicitly prohibits what the state did. And federal law is the supreme law of the land.
They can’t do that. Federal law overrides state law. What they can and are doing is arguing that the federal law simply doesn’t say what the feds think it says.
more federalales trying to justify their jobs
DRAIN THE SWAMP has never been more needed than right now!!!!
the feds want to use the law against the good people
but zig zag and swag away from the laws when they need to
seems to me that history has seen before what happens to the good people when the feds take over
If I were conspiracy minded, I might suspect the Feds are afraid the state investigation might turn up something that would either further embarrass the Feds for their incompetence or implicate them in some wrong-doing…if I were conspiracy minded.
This belief might be buttressed by the US Attorney moving to remove the case from the trial calendar until further notice. This might be seen as a desire to leave the matter hanging until public attention fades sufficiently for the Feds to either drop the charges or plead Routh down to a misdemeanor and time served…if I were conspiracy minded.
Routh is obviously an asset.
We may fall off in the ocean BUT YOU’LL NEVER MAKE US RUN
You’re a partner to the devil but we ain’t afraid of him
Will build this land so strong that you can’t tear it down again
I’m old, but sadly not old enough to remember when the Founders gave the federal government NO police powers, and it was a creature meant to be controlled by the states and not the capital city (Foggy Bottom Swamp).
In fairness, the Judiciary Act of 1789 – enacted when the US Constitution was still being ratified – created the US Marshals, which is the oldest federal police agency and I think the only federal police agency for the first 70(ish) years of the Republic’s history. The Founders pretty clearly understood that there would have to be some kind of federal police force that could be used to track down and arrest federal fugitives. There wasn’t an expansion of this federal police capability (I believe) until shortly after the Civil War when currency counterfeiting had become an epidemic, prompting Lincoln (ironically) to address it with the creation of the US Secret Service.
Interestingly, until the 1960s, the only time the Feds investigated/prosecuted presidential assassination plots is when those plots/attempts occurred on federal property. Leon Czolgosz – McKinley’s Assassin – was arrested by Buffalo police, tried and eventually put to death by the state of New York. Lee Harvey Oswald was in Dallas POLICE custody when he was murdered. Congress didn’t enact the statutes the Feds use now until after the Kennedy assassination.
“The Founders pretty clearly understood that there would have to be some kind of federal police force that could be used to track down and arrest federal fugitives.”
The Constitution is quite clear about what the police force was, although it is routinely overlooked because it is a fnord. Yet, it is clearly there. Federal law was supposed to be enforced by the militia.
I can’t find the quote right now (Siri insists on returning EVERYTHING in my mailbox as a match for ANYTHING), but one of the Founders remarked (in a Federalist Paper?) that the militia was the repository of this power because they were unlikely to obey an oppressive order that would harm their own rights as citizens.
‘In the Constitution, the words “army” and “armies” are mentioned once each, “navy” twice, and “militia” five times — more than both army and navy combined.’
–RODERICK T. BEAMAN
Congress has no police power. You and TargaGTS both seem to be confusing the term “police power” with law enforcement. That’s not what it means. Of course the federal government has the power to enforce federal law. And that means having officers to do that enforcement.
A police power, which the states have but Congress doesn’t, is the power to make laws just because the legislature thinks they’re needed. Congress is limited to its enumerated powers; every law has to be based on some specific power granted to it. States are not so limited (unless their constitutions say so). If a state legislature thinks a law is a good idea it has the power to enact it, unless its own constitution says it can’t. That’s not relevant here.
Moody’s entire point is that it doesn’t say that. All it says is that the state’s “exercise of jurisdiction” is suspended; it says nothing at all about the state not being allowed to investigate.
Moody asserts the only thing the state is not allowed to do for now is arrest Routh, which it couldn’t do anyway because he’s in federal custody; she also asserts that if she’s wrong about this, and the clause means the state can’t even investigate the crime, then it’s unconstitutional.
The order in which these two events happened is irrelevant. Once the DOJ has asserted its jurisdiction, Florida may not exercise its jurisdiction until the federal action is over. But what does “exercising jurisdiction” mean? Moody says it doesn’t and can’t mean simply investigating a crime that undoubtedly was committed in the state. It doesn’t and can’t mean interviewing witnesses.
She says it doesn’t and can’t mean anything at all except that if Routh were in state custody the state would have to turn him over to the feds. Since he’s in federal custody anyway, the provision is moot. The feds have custody, they have jurisdiction, and they are free to try Routh for his crime. Meanwhile Florida can conduct a full investigation and prepare an indictment, which it can exercise as soon as the feds are done with him.