BREAKING: Ryan Routh Found Guilty Of Assassination Attempt Against Donald Trump
A jury on Tuesday found Ryan Routh guilty of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump near the president’s Florida golf course, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on social media.
Routh, 59, was convicted of intending to kill Trump, then a Republican presidential candidate, when he aimed a rifle through a fence at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach while Trump was golfing.
According to Reuters, he was also convicted on four other counts, including impeding a federal agent and weapons offenses. He faces a maximum life sentence.
According to witness testimony, a Secret Service agent patrolling ahead of Trump spotted Routh with the rifle and opened fire, prompting him to flee without firing a shot.
“This plot was carefully crafted and deadly serious,” prosecutor John Shipley said, adding that without the agent’s intervention, “Donald Trump would not be alive.”
The 12-day trial in Fort Pierce, Florida, came amid heightened concerns over political violence in the U.S., following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Trump himself survived two assassination attempts during his 2024 campaign, one of which left him wounded in the ear before his return to the White House.
“Today’s guilty verdict against would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh illustrates the Department of Justice’s commitment to punishing those who engage in political violence,” Bondi said in a statement on X.
“This attempted assassination was not only an attack on our President, but an affront to our very nation itself.”
Democrats have also been recent victims of violence. In April, an arsonist set fire to the residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro while his family was inside. In June, a gunman disguised as a police officer killed Minnesota state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and shot state Senator John Hoffman and his wife.
Routh pleaded not guilty but dismissed his lawyers and represented himself. He claimed he was gentle and non-violent, though his opening statement was cut short by the judge. Prosecutors presented testimony from law enforcement officers and evidence that Routh had tracked Trump’s schedule and used fake identities.
Routh, who most recently lived in Hawaii, had worked as a roofing contractor and taken part in pro-democracy movements in Taiwan and Ukraine. His daughter Sara told Reuters he spent 10 months in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, sleeping in a tent in Kyiv and helping to recruit volunteers and source supplies. “They were about to fight a war. They had nothing to fight with,” she said. “He felt like he could make a difference.”
Prosecutors said Routh arrived in South Florida about a month before the September 15, 2024, incident, staying at a truck stop and monitoring Trump’s movements. On the day of the incident, he allegedly waited nearly 10 hours in bushes overlooking the sixth hole green. Investigators recovered an SKS-style rifle, bags containing body-armor plates, and a small video camera aimed at the course.
Trump was a few hundred yards away on the fifth hole when Routh was spotted. He was arrested later that afternoon after being stopped by police on a Florida highway.
