A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida has formally charged Ryan Wesley Routh with the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Just one charge in the five-count indictment is the murder attempt at Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Three counts are firearms charges, and one is an assault charge.
A release from the U.S. Justice Department demonstrates that Routh had planned the attempt for some time. He had also been reconnoitering the golf course for almost a month.
The Indictment
Routh, 58, tried to murder Trump, prosecutors allege, after waiting 12 hours at the Trump International Golf Club. A Secret Service spotted Routh’s SKS rifle and fired at the would-be assassin.
Routh easily set up his sniper nest and waited there without being detected. The Secret Service did not sweep the perimeter of the golf course before Trump began his round. Acting Director Ron Rowe explained that the round was not on Trump’s schedule.
Martin County sheriff’s deputies arrested Routh on Interstate 95 North after he fled the scene in a Nissan Xterra SUV.
The first count alleges that Routh “did intentionally attempt to kill” Trump. Then, being a convicted felon, he was also charged with the three gun crimes:
- Possessing a Firearm In Furtherance of a Crime of Violence
- Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition
- Possession of a Firearm with an Obliterated Serial Number
The indictment also alleges that Routh did “forcibly assault, oppose, impede, intimidate, and interfere with” a Secret Service agent “with the intent to commit another felony.” That felony was the assassination.
Routh did not violate the law that punishes the attempted assassination of a sitting president or vice president. Instead, he broke the law that covers the assassination of U.S. senators, congressmen, Supreme Court justices, top intelligence officers, and major presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Routh faces a possible sentence of life in prison for the assassination attempt.
More Details on the Plan
In its news release on the indictment, the Justice Department explained that Routh must have been planning to murder Trump for several months. As well, Routh had been scouting the golf course for almost a month.
According to the allegations filed with the court, FBI agents found documents that contained a handwritten list of dates in August, September, and October and venues where the former President had appeared or was expected to be present.
Cell records for two of the cell phones found in the Nissan Xterra showed that on multiple days and times from Aug. 18 to Sept. 15, Routh’s cell phone accessed cell towers located near Trump International and the former President’s residence at Mar-a-Lago.
And, ominously, a witness told authorities that the would-be assassin “dropped off a box” at his residence “several months” ago. Included in the box, as The New American reported of the factual proffer to support Routh’s detention, was a handwritten letter from Routh addressed “Dear World.” It stated, among other things, “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you.”
“I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster,” the letter continued. “It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”
Routh’s Book
Routh’s certainly had a deep-seated hatred of Trump. And top Democrats and the hate-Trump leftist news media, who have repeatedly called Trump a “threat” to democracy, might have augmented if not inspired it. U.S. Representative Dan Goldman (N.Y.) said that Trump “has to be eliminated.”
In his book, Ukraine’s Unwinnable War, Routh complained that Trump ended a nuclear arms agreement with Iran. He called Trump a “fool” and “buffoon,” writing:
I must take part of the blame for the retarded child that we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless, but I am man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake and Iran I apologize.
But even in February 2023, when the book was published, Routh was contemplating the assassination of Trump:
You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgement and the dismantling of the deal.
Yet Routh appears to have begun hating Trump only recently. On X, he has supported a range of politicians, including Trump, former U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, and socialist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Criminal Record
As the Justice Department noted, Routh is a convicted felon. His criminal record reaches back to 1998, as The New American reported, citing the Greensboro News & Record. The rap sheet strongly suggests that Routh is an unstable man.
The newspaper reported that cops have arrested him some 100 times. In 2002, he barricaded himself into a building with an automatic machine gun for three hours.
He was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a weapon of mass destruction, obstructing a police officer, and resisting arrest.
