A jury in Florida found Ryan Routh guilty on all counts for attempting to kill President Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign season at his Florida golf course.
He was found guilty in federal court on all five counts including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate; possessing a firearm to carry out a violent crime; assaulting a federal officer; felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition; and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
The trial lasted about two weeks. Jury deliberations lasted a few hours on Tuesday.
Routh was his own attorney and delivered a brief argument in his favor. He pleaded not guilty. For his most serious charge, attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Routh, a Hawaii resident, was arrested after a Secret Service agent spotted him hiding in the shrubbery near the fifth hole of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach and, according to prosecutors, waiting for Trump to get into his line of fire.
Federal prosecutors rested their case Friday. They spent a week presenting 38 witnesses who detailed what they said was Routh’s planned attack.
The trial had a number of unusual elements to it. Judge Aileen M. Cannon cut off Routh’s opening statement for being irrelevant. He chose to represent himself after claiming he did not trust court-appointed federal public defenders to represent him. Routh called just three witnesses to the stand, which led the trial to be short, lasting just 12 days, for such serious charges.
Following his arrest, public records and interviews from people who knew him suggested that Routh, a former supporter of Trump, had become increasingly concerned about Russia’s war in Ukraine and saw himself as an influential figure.
JUDGE SHUTS DOWN WOULD-BE TRUMP ASSASSIN RYAN ROUTH’S RAMBLING OPENING STATEMENT
“Make no mistake: The defendant was going to kill Donald Trump,” Christopher Browne, one of the federal prosecutors, said during his closing argument. “The defendant was just one bullet away.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement said “this attempted assassination was not only an attack on our President, but an affront to our very nation itself.
“Congratulations to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and the entire DOJ team on the conviction, in Florida, of the person who attempted an assassination on my life. The trial was meticulously handled, and I would like to thank the Judge and Jury for their time, professionalism, and patience. This was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
