Man accused of trying to kill Trump is scolded by the judge during opening arguments in his trial

The man accused of attempting to gun down Donald Trump on a Florida golf course was scolded by the judge Thursday as he served as his own lawyer

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — The man accused of attempting to gun down Donald Trump on a Florida golf course came face-to-face Thursday with the Secret Service agent who prosecutors say rousted him from his hiding place at the Trump International Golf Club.

Under questioning by the accused man, Ryan Wesley Routh, Secret Service agent Robert Fercano quickly placed Routh at the scene of the crime.

“I do not know your mindset that day, but I know you pointed that weapon at my face,” Fercano told Routh, who is acting as his own attorney at the trial in federal court.

The courtroom confrontation came on a day when Routh found himself on the receiving end of several scoldings from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon for failing to adhere to her warning against turning the proceedings into “a mockery of the dignity of the courtroom.”

It also came one day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on a Utah college campus, raising anxieties about political violence in the United States.