Man Who Attempted To Assassinate Trump At Golf Course Sentenced To Life In Prison

Ryan Routh, the 59-year-old man who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course in 2024, was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, handed down the sentence in a Florida courtroom. It marks a win for the Justice Department, which had argued for Routh to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Routh was convicted last year of the attempted assassination after he hid out in the bushes with a rifle near Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course as the then-presidential candidate was golfing on September 15, 2024. Routh’s assassination attempt was thwarted by Secret Service Special Agent Robert Fercano, who spotted Routh near the sixth hole and fired at him. Routh fled the scene in a vehicle he had parked nearby, but he was eventually caught by officers with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office as he was driving north on Interstate 95.

Routh represented himself during the trial after firing his lawyers and argued that “merely” having a weapon “in the presence of another is not intent.”

A jury deliberated for two hours following a two-week trial before it found Routh guilty on all five counts, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate and assault of a federal officer. After the verdict was handed down, Routh grabbed a pen in the courtroom and tried to stab himself in the neck, and law enforcement officers quickly restrained and shackled him.

Evidence used by prosecutors during the trial included some of Routh’s writings, where he discussed his displeasure with Trump and wrote that Iran is “free to assassinate Trump as well as me.”

The FBI also obtained a letter from Routh that was delivered to a civilian witness.

“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” Routh wrote in the letter. “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.”

The letter also mentioned Iran and criticized Trump for ending “relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has unraveled.”

Officers who arrested Routh on the day of the attempted assassination also found cellphones and a list of flights out of the country when they searched his vehicle. The cell phone records showed that the phones had pinged near Trump’s golf course and Mar-a-Lago home multiple times between August 18 and September 15, 2024.

Routh had a fascination with Ukraine and was once quoted in The New York Times about his efforts to recruit fighters for the country. The Times reported that Routh had traveled to Ukraine for several months in 2022.

According to a Justice Department filing, Routh communicated with a person he believed to be a Ukrainian and requested a rocket-propelled grenade while lamenting that Trump “is not good for Ukraine.”

In a message to his contact, Routh wrote, “I need equipment so that Trump cannot get elected,” according to the DOJ filing.

Routh’s attempt to kill Trump came just two months after Thomas Crooks fired eight shots at Trump and struck him in the ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. Two months after Routh tried to assassinate Trump, the Republican nominee won the 2024 presidential election.

Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.