A 59-year-old man accused of planning to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course last year can represent himself at trial, a federal judge said Thursday.

Ryan Routh, a Hawaii resident, is to go on trial in Florida in September on charges of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and firearms offenses.

District Judge Aileen Cannon granted Routh's request that he be allowed to act as his own attorney but said he would also need standby counsel.

The move came one day after federal public defenders who had been handling Routh's case asked that they be removed, saying the "attorney-client relationship is broken."

The court-appointed public defenders said Routh had repeatedly refused to meet with them.

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