The state of Florida is charging alleged would-be Trump assassin Ryan Wesley Routh for attempting to kill President Donald Trump last year at his golf club in West Palm Beach.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) announced the charges Thursday morning and said the Biden administration hindered the state’s investigation into Routh, 58, for attempting to assassinate Trump in September.
“My office is charging Mr. Routh for the attempted first degree murder of President Trump. As well as a charge for terrorism,” Routh said.
“My office, as well as our law enforcement partners, were met with major roadblocks in prosecuting this case during Biden’s term. Biden and his Attorney General sought to frustrate our efforts and block our investigation into the man who crossed into this state and attempted to commit political violence against a Florida resident.”
Uthmeier thanked Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel for helping the state pursue justice against Routh upon taking office. Routh is already facing federal charges for the attempted assassination and assaulting a Secret Service officer, on top of several firearms charges. He pleaded not guilty to the federal charges and could receive a life sentence if convicted.
Prior to that, Routh racked up a lengthy criminal rap sheet and was known to the FBI because of a tipster who accused him of illegal firearm possession.
A Secret Service agent spotted Routh holding a gun in the bushes of Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club on September 15, and fired on the would-be assassin. Routh attempted to flee the scene in an SUV, only to be spotted by an eagle-eyed witness and eventually caught by police officers on I-95.
Federal agents later recovered Routh’s SKS rifle with a scope, and other materials from the bush he stationed himself at, according to court papers. Cell phone records show Routh accessed towers near Trump’s golf course and Mar-a-Lago residence on multiple occasions between August and September of last year.
Routh also wrote a letter to a neighbor months before the assassination attempt declaring his intention to kill Trump. The letter was meant to be released in the event Routh failed to carry out his plan.
“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” Routh wrote in the chilling note.
Prosecutors have alleged Routh attempted to buy a rocket launcher from Ukraine weeks before the assassination attempt. Messages show Routh wanted to have the device shipped to him so he could prevent Trump from being elected.
Before the assassination attempt, Routh amateurishly worked to recruit volunteer soldiers to join Ukraine’s army and fight against Russia. His work for Ukraine led to interviews with multiple mainstream news outlets covering the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Once a Trump supporter, Routh became a staunch Democrat and an opponent of the president, as shown by his social media posts and political donations. In his self-published manifesto, Routh urged Iran to assassinate Trump and voiced regret for previously supporting him.
He was the second would-be assassin to try to take Trump’s life in a matter of months, after gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump in the ear in Butler, Pa. last July. Crooks’s rampage killed retired fire chief Corey Comperatore and wounded two other Trump supporters at a campaign rally for the president.