The federal government will pursue a charge of attempted assassination against a man accused of lurking with a gun near where former President Donald J. Trump was golfing in Florida last week, prosecutors said in a court hearing on Monday. Among the government’s evidence, they said, was a note the suspect had written suggesting that he had planned the attack.

Such a charge — which prosecutors said they would seek through a grand jury indictment — would carry a maximum possible penalty of life imprisonment.

United States Magistrate Judge Ryon M. McCabe, of the Federal District Court in West Palm Beach, Fla., granted the government’s request on Monday to keep the suspect, Ryan W. Routh, in jail without bond. So far, Mr. Routh has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm as a felon, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, and with possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Mr. Routh’s defense lawyers had argued that their client was not a flight risk and did not pose a serious threat to the community, but Judge McCabe disagreed.

Advertisement

The court filing included a note that prosecutors said the suspect had written suggesting that he had planned to attack former President Donald J. Trump.

In a statement released by his campaign on Mondayrich ph, Mr. Trump accused the Justice Department and the F.B.I. of “mishandling and downplaying the second assassination attempt on my life since July.” He called the charges against Mr. Routh “a slap on the wrist” and said, “Let Florida handle the case!”

• to
• rich ph
• Seek
• U.S.
• Attempted