Suspected Trump-assassin Ryan Routh denied bail after letter revealed in court filings

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(This story was updated to add new information.)

WEST PALM BEACH — Federal prosecutors are poised to bring more criminal charges against Ryan Routh, the man accused of stalking former President Donald Trump and plotting to assassinate him while he golfed.

As it stands, the 58-year-old Routh faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for two federal firearms offenses. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Dispoto said Monday that additional evidence collected in the wake of Routh's arrest, including a handwritten letter detailing an attempt to kill Trump, supports a far more serious charge.

Dispoto said the government will convene a grand jury in hopes of indicting Routh on one count of attempting to kill a major political candidate, punishable by life in prison. The federal prosecutor gave U.S. District Judge Ryon McCabe an overview of new evidence against Routh during a pre-trial detention hearing Monday.

His presentation included anecdotes from an e-book Routh wrote in February 2023, a year and a half before investigators say he aimed a semiautomatic rifle across Trump International Golf Club near West Palm Beach.

In the book, titled "Ukraine's Unwinnable War," Routh said he felt partly to blame for having elected a president who "ended up being brainless.”

“I am man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake and Iran I apologize,” Routh wrote. “You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of the deal. No one here in the US seems to have the balls to put natural selection to work or even unnatural selection.”

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Dispoto said an unnamed witness gave investigators a collection of other handwritten letters containing sentiments similar to those in Routh's book. The letters were in a box Routh dropped off at the witness' home in North Carolina several months prior to the assassination attempt.

The witness said he opened the box after learning of Routh's arrest. Inside, he found ammunition, a metal pipe, miscellaneous building materials, tools, four phones and various letters. One, addressed to “The World,” said the following:

“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 continued: “Everyone across the globe from the youngest to the oldest know that Trump is unfit to be anything, much less a U.S. president."

FBI agent Christopher Hull said Monday that the letter was neither signed nor evaluated for a handwriting comparison.

Routh's team of public defenders, Renee Sihvola and Kristy Militello, quoted parts of the letter that Dispoto left out, several of which appeared to portray a failed assassination attempt as a publicity stunt meant to jolt people out of their complacency.

"While I sit at the big house, I'm willing to pay the price, et cetera," Sihvola read aloud.

The writer said his actions would “make a few more people stop and think about how wonderful our democracy is.”

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Secret Service agent greeted Routh before firing at him, prosecutor said

Routh attended Monday's hearing dressed in a blue jail jumpsuit. He said nothing while the prosecutor recounted the movements that preceded his arrest and the ideology that may have motivated them.

Dispoto said Routh traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach on Aug. 14, 2024, despite having no known ties to South Florida. According to data retrieved from his cellphone, Routh went to Trump International Golf Club and Mar-a-Lago “multiple times” during the month before the suspected assassination attempt.

Dispoto did not specify how many times Routh visited Trump's properties, or where he may have stayed while in South Florida. He told the judge that Routh staked out Trump International for 12 hours on Sept. 15, positioned behind a chain-link fence with a loaded rifle and a bag of mini-sausages.

The prosecutor described Routh's setup as a "sniper's nest." A photograph of the site showed Routh's abandoned rifle propped between a bag and a backpack hung on the fence. Both bags contained bulletproof plates, Dispoto said.

Dispoto said Routh likely expected return fire, suggesting that he intended to pull the trigger once Trump came into his line of sight. Before Trump did, a Secret Service agent on a golf cart swept the area and spotted Routh.

Dispoto said the agent greeted the gunman, then noticed the barrel of a rifle "aimed directly at him." The agent jumped out of the golf car, drew his weapon and began to back away. The prosecutor said the agent saw the barrel move, at which point he fired several shots at the gunman.

None landed. The agent then took cover behind a tree and reloaded his weapon. Routh, who did not return fire, fled on foot to a black Nissan Xterra across the street. A nearby driver said they made eye contact with Routh as he fled. The witness took a photo of Routh's car and wrote all but the last digit of his license plate.

Investigators used this information to arrest Routh in Martin County. Inside of his Xterra, agents discovered two additional license plates, six cellphones — one of which contained the Google search query: "how to travel from Palm Beach County to Mexico" — 12 pairs of gloves, a passport and a handwritten list of venues where Trump was scheduled to appear.

Routh was in West Palm Beach for "one reason, and one reason only," Dispoto told the judge. "To kill the former President of the United States."

He asked McCabe to order Routh be held without bail. At the conclusion of Monday's three-hour hearing, the judge did.

Hannah Phillips covers criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism and subscribe today.