Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announces charges for suspected Trump assassin, and Republicans argue against stopgap spending bill under consideration.

Florida Attorney General Moody announces felony charges against accused would-be Trump assassin

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said the state has filed felony charges against Ryan Routh — the accused attempted assassin of now President-elect Donald Trump in West Palm Beach in September.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Moody announced that Florida has charged Routh with attempted felony murder related to a traffic accident that injured a 6-year-old girl after he allegedly fled the area in South Florida where officials say he was seen stalking Trump. 

Authorities said the 58-year-old was taken into custody on I-95 within an hour of being spotted at the fence line of the Trump International Golf Club on Sept. 15. 

He is accused of planning to use an AK-47-style rifle.

Two days later, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that the state would investigate the assassination attempt against Trump.

“The people deserve the truth about the would-be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee,” DeSantis wrote on X on Dec. 15.

Routh was initially charged in a criminal complaint only with gun offenses before federal prosecutors pursued additional charges before a grand jury in Miami.

On Sept. 30, Routh was indicted on five counts, including an assassination attempt on a former president, assaulting a federal officer and three firearms charges in what federal investigators say was an assassination attempt on Trump.

Routh now has additional charges filed against him related to the incident that day. 

Republicans, Trump allies seethe over short-term government funding bill to avert shutdown

Some Republicans and figures whom President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to carry out his agenda were fuming over the contents of a short-term government funding bill Wednesday, less than three days before a partial shutdown would occur if no bill is passed by Congress.

Marking one of the most notable defections, billionaire businessman Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who has been tasked with co-leading a new effort to cut government "waste," came out with a strong rejection of the funding measure Wednesday morning on X. 

“This bill should not pass,” Musk wrote on his social media platform, quoting a post from Vivek Ramaswamy, the businessman and former 2024 Republican presidential candidate who is working with Musk on Trump’s new government efficiency push.

Musk continued to rage against the funding proposal on X throughout Wednesday afternoon, calling it “a crime,” and “terrible.” 

“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk wrote in another post. 

Ramaswamy himself later wrote in a post that “The bill should fail.” 

Some sitting Republicans in Congress who will vote on the legislation were also seething, particularly those in the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, who made clear earlier this month that they did not support President Joe Biden’s request for $100 billion in additional disaster aid to help communities recover from disastrous hurricanes this fall. 

The more than 1,500-page short-term spending bill released Tuesday night would keep the government funded at essentially current levels until mid-March, when new Republican majorities in both the House and Senate and a GOP-led White House will be tasked with working out a full budget for the rest of the fiscal year. 

But the bill, known as a continuing resolution, also includes additions such as the $100 billion in disaster aid, $10 billion in economic aid for farmers, a commitment to cover the cost of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland, pay raises for lawmakers and more. 

In a post on X on Wednesday, GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, called the legislation an “unpaid-for, deficit-increasing Christmas tree monstrosity." He said leadership should “start over.” 

Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett told CNN on Wednesday morning that he was a “hell no” on the bill. 

The frustration from conservatives has also sparked chatter about whether House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s chances at securing the top job in the lower chamber again could be in jeopardy when the new Congress convenes Jan. 3.

Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona, one of the eight House Republicans who voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy amid similar outrage to a short-term government funding bill, told CNN “we’ll see about Jan. 3” when asked if he would still support Johnson. 

On the Senate side, Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, in a post on X, called the release of the continuing resolution a “sad day for America." He added that it shows Johnson is a “weak, weak man.” 

AP source: House Ethics Committee voted to release findings in Gaetz investigation

The House Ethics Committee secretly voted earlier this month to release its report on its three-year investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a a person familiar with the vote confirmed to The Associated Press.

The panel’s findings are expected to be made public after the House’s final votes before their holiday recess, according to CNN, which was the first to report on the vote Wednesday. In a social media post, Gaetz addressed the reports about the vote and denied any wrongdoing, while acknowledging his "30s were an era of working very hard - and playing hard too."

"It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life," Gaetz wrote. "I live a different life now."

The committee's reported decision is a reversal from an earlier vote along party lines in late November in favor of keeping the report secret.

The investigation explored whether Gaetz “engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct,” the Ethics Committee said in June.

Allegations that Gaetz paid for sex and had sex with an underage girl resurfaced in November after President-elect Donald Trump announced he was nominating Gaetz for attorney general. Gaetz withdrew from consideration Nov. 21, saying that his nomination “was unfairly becoming a distraction.”

Gaetz, 42, had resigned from the House immediately after Trump announced his nomination.

A separate Justice Department investigation into Gaetz ended with no charges being filed. In the post on X on Wednesday, Gaetz again vehemently denied any wrongdoing, citing the Justice Department’s decision not to prosecute him. 

“Then, the very ‘witnesses’ DOJ deemed not-credible were assembled by House Ethics to repeat their claims absent any cross-examination or challenge from me or my attorneys,” he wrote. “I’ve had no chance to ever confront any accusers. I’ve never been charged. I’ve never been sued.”

“In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated - even some I never dated but who asked,” Gaetz continued. “I dated several of these women for years. I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18.  Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court - which is why no such claim was ever made in court.”

The Ethics Committee’s decision to release a report on a former member of Congress is rare but not unprecedented.