Ryan Routh letter: Trump gunman’s note offering $150k to ‘finish the job’
Ryan Routh kept a handwritten list of dates and locations of Trump’s movements and wrote a note months earlier stating his intention to kill
The suspect in an assassination attempt on Donald Trump wrote a note offering an unidentified person $150,000 to “finish the job”, prosecutors said.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, appeared in court on Monday morning charged with firearms offences following his suspected assassination attempt of the former president.
Trump was the target of a second suspected assassination attempt by a gunman armed with an AK-47 rifle while golfing on Sunday 15 September.
According to court filings, Mr Routh wrote a note months earlier saying that he intended to kill the former president.
The note, addressed “Dear World,” read: “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”
It was placed in a box, which also contained ammunition, a metal pipe and other items, that was dropped at the home of an unidentified person who contacted law enforcement officials after Mr Routh was arrested. The box was not opened by the person until after Mr Routh was taken into custody.
The former president was rushed to safety after a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel poking out of a fence just 300 yards away from him at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The agent opened fire toward Mr Routh, 58, who fled the scene in a black Nissan and was later detained on a motorway after being identified by a witness.
Prosecutors said that when Routh was arrested, his car contained a handwritten list of dates in August, September and October of places where Trump had appeared or was expected to appear, including his home and golf course.
The FBI searched Routh's Nissan Xterra and found six cellphones — one of which contained a Google search of how to travel from Palm Beach County to Mexico.
Cell site records from two of the phones revealed Routh had traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach on Aug. 14, 2024.
Further, on “multiple days and times from Aug. 18, 2024, to Sept. 15, 2024, Routh’s cellphone accessed cell towers located near Trump International and the former president’s residence at Mar-a-Lago,” the filing said.
Also found in the vehicle were 12 pairs of gloves, a Hawaii driver’s license in Routh’s name, his passport and documents. One of the documents
Agents also found a notebook with “dozens of pages” filled with names and phone numbers about Ukraine, discussions on how to join the fight on behalf of Ukraine and notes criticizing the Chinese and Russian governments.
The filing said law enforcement learned that the license plate on the Nissan Xterra was not registered to the vehicle, and two additional license plates were found in the car.
A search of the area where Routh had been hiding near the golf course led to the discovery of a rifle with a scope attached and obliterated serial number, an extended magazine and a backpack and reusable shopping bag that both contained plates “capable of stopping small arms fire.”
On the rifle, investigators found a latent fingerprint on a piece of tape attached to the firearm that preliminarily matched Routh.
The suspect’s phone pinged towers near Trump’s golf course and his Florida home repeatedly from August 18 to September 15, the Justice Department said, arguing that Mr Routh should remain in custody.
Previously reported court documents show that Mr Routh lay in wait on the perimeter of Trump’s golf course for almost 12 hours before he was spotted by Secret Service Agents.
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