Donald Trump’s gunman, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including attempted murder of the former president.
Routh appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday days after being charged with attempting to assassinate Trump. He has been ordered to remain in jail without bail while his case moves through the courts.
He faces five federal charges in total after police say he pointed a rifle through a fence at Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach on September 15.
Last week, prosecutors revealed that he wrote a chilling letter admitting that he failed in his attempt to take the former president’s life.
Routh also offered $150,000 to anyone who could “finish the job,” according to the memo published by the Justice Department on Monday and obtained by DailyMail.com.
‘This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I failed you. I did my best and gave him all the courage I could muster. It’s up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whoever can complete the job,” the letter reads.
Donald Trump’s alleged assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, wrote a chilling letter admitting that he failed in his attempt to take the former president’s life.
Department of Homeland Security police officers stand guard outside the Paul G. Rogers Federal Building as Routh pleads guilty.
It was addressed to “the world” and said Trump had “terminated relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has fallen apart.”
Routh, 58, also had a list of Trump’s upcoming public appearances and had Googled a route from Palm Beach, Florida, to Mexico.
He is scheduled to appear in federal court Monday for a detention hearing following the Sept. 15 assassination attempt at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
Routh also offered $150,000 to anyone who could “finish the job,” according to the memo published by the Justice Department on Monday and obtained by DailyMail.com.
Before that appearance, federal prosecutors presented a written factual proposal with new details about the day Routh tried to assassinate Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course.
In addition to laying out the evidence against Routh, the Justice Department argued that he should remain locked up while the case proceeds.
The document reveals that a Secret Service agent was walking along the fence between Trump’s racetrack and the public street, one hole ahead of the former president, when he “saw the partially obscured face of a man in the brush along the fence.” .
The man was later identified as Routh.
The officer then noticed the barrel of a rifle protruding and fired at the suspect.
The officer then “took cover behind a tree and reloaded his gun, then looked up” and saw that Routh was gone.
Routh positioned himself directly in line of sight of the sixth hole green. Trump was playing on the 5th hole at the time of the incident. Secret Service agents took him off the course when they heard his fellow agent’s gunshots on the 6th hole.
Law enforcement officers stand outside the Paul G Rogers Federal Building, US Courthouse, ahead of Ryan W. Routh’s hearing
After the officer fired, a witness saw Routh run down Summit Boulevard toward a black Nissan Xterra, with a Florida license plate, parked nearby.
The witness took photographs of the Nissan Xterra and wrote down everything except the last digit of the license plate number. Using that information, local police were able to find the vehicle and arrest Routh.
In the vehicle, authorities found six cell phones, one of which “contained a Google search on how to travel from Palm Beach County to Mexico.”
Also in the vehicle were 12 pairs of gloves, a Hawaiian driver’s license in Routh’s name and a list of Trump’s public appearances in August, September and October.
Additionally, there was a notebook with “dozens of pages filled with names and phone numbers related to Ukraine, discussions about joining the fight on behalf of Ukraine, and notes criticizing the governments of China and Russia.”
On September 18, a witness contacted authorities and said Routh had left a box at his residence several months earlier. After seeing the news about what happened on the golf course, the witness opened the box.
Among its contents was a chilling letter addressed to ‘El Mundo’, where Routh announced his intentions to kill the former president… and predicted that he would fail. He then offered six figures to anyone who completed the task.
‘This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I failed you. I did my best and gave him all the courage I could muster. It’s up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whoever can complete the job,” he says in the handwritten note.
“Everyone around the world, from the youngest to the oldest, knows that Trump is not fit to be anything, much less president of the United States. Presidents of the United States must, at a minimum, embody the moral fabric that is America and be kind, caring and selfless and always stand up for humanity.
The box also contained ammunition, a metal pipe, various construction materials, tools, four telephones and several letters.
