A British citizen has pleaded not guilty to grabbing a cop’s gun in an effort to assassinate presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in June.
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The charges are disrupting government business and official functions and two charges of being an illegal alien in possession of a gun. If convicted he faces up to 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $750,000.
Michael Sandford, who was arrested on June 18 in Las Vegas, is being held “in isolation 22 hours a day with no window to the outside world”, his mother, Lynne Sandford, told the BBC.
He had driven to Las Vegas from Californa on June 16, and went to a shooting range the next day, where he said he learnt how to use a gun for the first time, it is claimed.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Cam Ferenbach ordered Sandford to remain in federal custody while he awaits an August 22 trial on all three charges. At his side were federal public defenders Brenda Weksler and Ryan Norwood, who later refused to answer questions from the media. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities said they’ve lodged a detainer against him to take action on the immigration violation if he’s released from jail.
“He’s never shown any violent tendencies before, he’s never been a bad person, he’s a nice kid and literally wouldn’t hurt a fly – he used to tell us not to use fly spray because he didn’t want any flies to die”, Sandford’s father, Paul Davey, told the Portsmouth News in June.
Police said Sandford, a native of England who was illegally in the United States, approached a uniformed officer at the campaign rally at Treasure Island and said he wanted to get Trump’s autograph. He had to be committed to a mental health facility as a teenager after suffering from anorexia, she added.
Sandford said he had been planning to kill Trump for about a year and finally felt confident about trying it, the complaint said.
The Secret Service says Sandford grabbed at the Las Vegas police officer’s gun before he was handcuffed.
According to the complaint, Sandford said he thought he saw the officer’s 9 mm Glock pistol in an unlocked position and figured that would be the easiest way to acquire a gun and shoot Trump.
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Mrs Sandford said her son had been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome when he was 13 and he had previously tried to kill himself.
