FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A man charged with trying to assassinate President Donald Trump last year in South Florida is set to represent himself during a pretrial conference on Tuesday, as final preparations are made for trial.

Barring any delays, jury selection is scheduled to begin Sept. 8 in Fort Pierce federal court for the case against Ryan Routh. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon signed off on Routh’s request to represent himself in July but said court-appointed attorneys need to remain as standby counsel.

The trial will begin nearly a year after prosecutors say a U.S. Secret Service agent thwarted Routh’s attempt to shoot Trump as he played golf. Routh, 59, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations.

Prosecutors have said Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club. A Secret Service agent spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Officials said Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot.

Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who prosecutors said informed officers that he saw a person fleeing. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested, and the witnesses confirmed it was the person he had seen, prosecutors have said.

The judge on Tuesday unsealed prosecutor’s 33-page list of exhibits that could be introduced as evidence at the trial. It says prosecutors have photos of Routh holding the same model of semi-automatic rifle found at Trump’s club.

The document also lists numerous electronic messages sent from a cellphone investigators found in Routh’s car. One message dated about two months before his arrest is described as Routh requesting a “missile launcher.” It says that in August 2024, the month before his arrest, Routh sent messages seeking “help ensuring that (Trump) does not get elected” and offering to pay an unnamed person to use flight tracking apps to check the whereabouts of Trump’s airplane.

The exhibit list cites evidence from Routh’s phone of an electronic “chat about sniper concealment” during President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. And it lists internet searches for how long gunpower residue stays on clothing and articles on U.S. Secret Service responses to assassination plots.

Routh was a North Carolina construction worker who in recent years had moved to Hawaii. A self-styled mercenary leader, Routh spoke out to anyone who would listen about his dangerous, sometimes violent plans to insert himself into conflicts around the world, witnesses have told The Associated Press.

In the early days of the war in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to fight the Russians. In his native Greensboro, North Carolina, he had a 2002 arrest for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction,” which turned out to be an explosive with a 10-inch-long fuse.

In 2010, police searched a warehouse Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen items, from power tools and building supplies to kayaks and spa tubs. In both felony cases, judges gave Routh either probation or a suspended sentence.

In addition to the federal charges, Routh also has pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder.

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AP journalist Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J — President Donald Trump on Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of a failed attempt on his life, joining family, friends and close advisers to witness Chelsea’s dominating FIFA Club World Cup final victory over Paris Saint-Germain.

The president joined the players on the field after the match to congratulate the tournament’s outstanding performers, present PSG players with their runner-up medals and hand Chelsea their championship trophy.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump were greeted with cheers as they arrived at MetLife Stadium just ahead of the pre-match performance by musical artists Robbie Williams and Laura Pausini. And the president got a smattering of boos when he was briefly shown on the stadium’s mega-screen.

The president waved to the crowd and pumped his fist as he and his entourage arrived at the stadium luxury box, where they took in the match with FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his wife, Leena Al Ashqar.

Other guests spotted in the president’s suite included Attorney General Pam Bondi, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, NFL great Tom Brady and media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

MetLife in a little over a year will host the 2026 World Cup final.

Chelsea, of the English Premier League, spoiled PSG’s bid to win its fourth major title of the season, exactly 100 days after PSG clinched Ligue 1 on April 5. The Paris team added the Coupe de France by beating Reims 3-0 on May 24, then romped over Inter Milan seven days later in the Champions League Final.

Chelsea dominated throughout, racing out to a 3-0 lead in the first half behind a pair of goals from Cole Palmer and one from João Pedro.

Sunday’s match fell on the first anniversary of the assassination attempt Trump survived in Butler, Pennsylvania, while campaigning for president.

“It remains my firm conviction that God alone saved me that day for a righteous purpose: to restore our beloved Republic to greatness and to rescue our Nation from those who seek its ruin,” Trump said in a statement released Sunday night after he returned to Washington.

He also hailed doctors, first responders and rallygoers who helped guided other attendees to safety, saying, “These men and women arrived at the rally grounds as ordinary Americans, but left as heroes.”

The international sporting match also offered an opportunity for Trump and aides to huddle with Qatari government officials.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, in a brief exchange with reporters ahead of the match, said he remained “hopeful” about Gaza ceasefire and hostage negotiations.

Witkoff, who joined Trump for the tournament finale, appeared to nod affirmatively when asked by reporters if he planned on meeting with senior officials from the Gulf nation of Qatar, which is serving as an intermediary with Hamas in the talks, during the match.

“I’ll be meeting them,” Witkoff said.

The president, who has a warm relationship with Infantino, has said he plans to attend multiple matches of the World Cup tournament next year that will be held at stadiums in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Preparations for next year’s big soccer moment for North America are well underway. But it comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and its neighbors over proposed tariffs, immigration and Trump repeatedly saying that Canada should become the 51st state.

Trump earlier this year said the tensions will only make the tournament more “exciting.”

“ Tension’s a good thing, ” Trump said.

Sporting events have made up the bulk of Trump’s trips in the U.S. since taking office this year. In addition to his visit this weekend to the soccer tournament, he’s attended the Super Bowl in New Orleans, the Daytona 500 in Florida, UFC fights in Miami and Newark, New Jersey, and the NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia.

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Cassidy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed reporting from Washington.

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is using GoFundMe to rally its network of deep-pocketed backers and everyday donors around the survivors of his July assassination attempt and Hurricane Helene’s destruction, bucking more traditional avenues of emergency relief.

The two high-profile fundraisers — organized by the Republican nominee’s national finance director — have drawn more than $14 million. They do not violate campaign finance laws, according to legal experts. Nor is the campaign allowed to pocket any proceeds for its own political ends; a GoFundMe spokesperson told The Associated Press that the majority of the Butler, Pennsylvania funds have been disbursed.

But the use of a crowdfunding platform marks an unorthodox response to crises from a political campaign. Never before has a major party’s presidential candidate turned to the for-profit company — which usually features desperate appeals for help covering tuition costs or medical bills — to mobilize their base toward outside charitable causes.

“It’s pretty unusual and actually quite odd,” said Brett Kappel, a longtime campaign finance attorney with Harmon Curran who has advised both Republicans and Democrats.

It’s more typical to see candidates contribute campaign funds to IRS-approved nonprofits during natural disasters, Kappel said. He pointed to Federal Election Commission filings that show U.S. Sen. Tim Scott’s 2022 campaign gave to the American Red Cross after Hurricane Ian hit South Carolina.

Trump campaign spokesperson Brian Hughes said the motivation arose from “the president wanting to help find a way for his supporters to give as much direct support as they can.”

The finance team only got involved because of their “great expertise in working with large accounts,” according to Hughes, and “not one penny of this funding is going anywhere but to those impacted.” Hughes said more than $6.5 million of the $7.7 million raised for organizations helping with Hurricane Helene recovery had been disbursed as of October 11.

“The president has an amazing movement of supporters,” Hughes told AP. “With the experience in Butler generating millions of dollars of support, he saw the same opportunity to be a direct conduit for a philanthropic effort from his supporters.”

Longtime Trump associates, conservative celebrities and right-wing groups gave tens of thousands of dollars. Bill Ackman, the CEO of the Pershing Square investment firm who endorsed Trump shortly after the assassination attempt, donated $100,000 for hurricane relief. UFC President Dana White also pitched in $100,000. Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott said on X that he donated $50,000 from his congressional salary for the Butler, Pennsylvania victims. Also contributing was The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025.

GoFundMe collects a transaction fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents for every donation to cover credit and debit charges. Its global Trust & Safety team has been communicating closely with organizer Meredith O’Rourke to ensure the safe distribution of donations from the Butler, Pennsylvania, page, according to a company spokesperson. O’Rourke also provided a verified distribution plan, the GoFundMe spokesperson told AP, which the company routinely requires in cases where organizers are withdrawing money on behalf of other recipients.

It’s not advisable for campaign finance officials to run crowdfunding pages “at the same time they were writing your money for your camp,” according to Andrew Herman, a Washington lawyer specializing in campaign finance. Because online crowdfunding is less regulated, he said, it would’ve been “more palatable” to direct supporters toward a recognized nonprofit.

“But people get into trouble when they try to ascribe rationality or any degree of what we would generally consider best financial practices to campaigns,” Herman said.

“There’s no black letter law that says they can’t do this,” he added. “Should they? Of course not.”

The bulk of the Pennsylvania disbursements were made earlier this month and more payouts will come while the page remains active, according to Hughes. The “vast majority” has gone to the families of the three people shot, he said. Some funds also compensated a local crane rental company after the owner said he lost business when the ensuing police investigation left him unable to retrieve equipment he’d donated for the rally.

Money raised for Hurricane Helene victims has gone to four nonprofits. Samaritan’s Purse spokesperson Gabrielle Bouquet said the Christian humanitarian aid organization is grateful for Trump’s “steadfast support of the work we do in Jesus’ name.” Bouquet declined to share the exact amount of the donation.

Water Mission, a Christian engineering nonprofit that builds safe water solutions in disaster areas, confirmed that the Charleston-based ministry had also received funds. Public relations director Gregg Dinino did not specify the total.

Mtn2Sea Ministries, which delivers generators and supplies in the immediate aftermath of weather events, said on Facebook that it received $25,000 on Monday. The disaster relief group posted that the proceeds were used to buy South Georgia businesses’ gift cards because “the best way to help those in need is to get resources directly into their hands.”

It makes sense that Trump’s team gravitated toward crowdfunding, said Benjamin Soskis of the Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. The campaign “has often been premised on a suspicion of institutions,” he said, and GoFundMe “drew some of its attraction by serving as an alternative to institutional charitable giving.”

But crowdfunding also brings less accountability, Soskis said. Crowdfunding pages don’t have the same disclosure requirements as public charities that must divulge their finances in annual tax filings.

Soskis said Trump’s checkered philanthropic ventures has likely brought increased levels of scrutiny. A judge fined Trump $2 million in 2019 for using his since-dissolved charitable foundation to advance his interests.

“It is a combustible dynamic when you combine campaigning and charitable giving,” Soskis said. “The extra dynamics of crowdfunding and Trump’s own history with philanthropy itself adds more fuel to that fire.”

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Billionaire tech executive Elon Musk cast the upcoming presidential election in dire terms during an appearance with Donald Trump, calling the Republican presidential nominee the only candidate “to preserve democracy in America.”

The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla who also purchased X, Musk joined Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday at the site where the former president survived an assassination attempt in July. Musk said “this will be the last election” if Trump doesn’t win. Wearing a cap with the “Make America Great Again” slogan of Trump’s campaign, Musk appeared to acknowledge the foreboding nature of his remarks.

“As you can see I am not just MAGA — I am Dark MAGA,” he said.

It was the first time that Musk joined one of Trump’s rallies and was evidence of their growing alliance in the final stretch of the presidential election. Musk created a super political action committee supporting the Republican nominee and it has been spending heavily on get-out-the-vote efforts. Trump has said he would tap Musk to lead a government efficiency commission if he regains the White House.

Trump joined Musk in August for a rare public conversation on X, a friendly chat that spanned more than two hours. In it, the former president largely focused on the July assassination attempt, illegal immigration and his plans to cut government regulations.

Before a large crowd Saturday, Musk sought to portray Trump as a champion of free speech, arguing that Democrats want “to take away your freedom of speech, they want to take away your right to bear arms, they want to take away your right to vote, effectively.” Musk went on to criticize a California effort to ban voter ID requirements.

The event took place at the same property where a gunman’s bullets grazed Trump’s right ear and killed a Trump supporter, Corey Comperatore. The shooting left multiple others injured.

Several members of Comperatore’s family, as well as other attendees and first responders from the July rally, returned to the site on Saturday. Also appearing with the former president were his running mate Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance, son Eric Trump, daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair Lara Trump, along with Pennsylvania lawmakers and sheriffs.

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Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

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The story has been corrected to reflect that Elon Musk said Democrats “want to take away your right to vote, effectively,” not “fight to vote, effectively.”