Man found guilty of assassination attempt against Trump at Florida golf club
Ryan Routh, the man accused of plotting to kill President Trump as he golfed in south Florida last year, was found guilty Tuesday following a trial where he mounted his own defense.
After two hours of deliberation, a jury of 12 Floridians convicted Routh on all five counts he faced in federal court, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Routh’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 18, according to The Hill’s sister network, NewsNation. After the verdict was handed down, he attempted to stab himself in the neck with a pen, prompting U.S. Marshals to intervene, the network said.
He was dragged out of the courtroom, as his daughter, Sara Routh, was screaming, “Dad I love you don’t do anything. I’ll get you out. He didn’t hurt anybody,” according to the Associated Press.
The guilty verdict comes at a moment of renewed national concern about political violence in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting earlier this month.
Federal prosecutors said Routh spent weeks planning to kill Trump before pushing the muzzle of a rifle through the perimeter of his West Palm Beach golf course last year, near the sixth hole.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Browne urged the jury to use “common sense” in its deliberations during the government’s closing arguments Tuesday, according to The Hill’s sister network NewsNation, contending that the fact Routh ultimately never fired a shot shouldn’t mean he’s let off the hook.
“If the evidence in this case has shown one thing and one thing only it’s that Ryan Wesley Routh wanted Donald Trump dead,” Browne said.
The government questioned 38 witnesses over seven days, while Routh called just three witnesses in three hours, a firearms expert and two character witnesses. He did not take the stand himself.
However, jurors were able to observe the defendant as he represented himself throughout the trial — a move U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon allowed after two hearings in July, sidelining his court-appointed federal public defenders.
Routh argued during his closing remarks Tuesday that he’s incapable of killing a person, focusing on the fact that he didn’t fire his weapon and suggesting he had no intent to do so as the prosecution alleged.
“It’s hard for me to believe that a crime occurred if the trigger was never pulled,” Routh said.
He also veered off topic to talk about Adolf Hitler and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, according to the Associated Press.
It’s unusual for criminal defendants to represent themselves, though the Supreme Court has held that the right to do so exists, if a defendant can prove to a judge that they are competent to waive their right to counsel.
As Routh examined his witnesses Monday, he asked many “yes-or-no” questions and conferred with the public defenders, who were made his standby counsel, according to NewsNation. He also looked over at his adult children in the courtroom and gave them a wink.
Routh’s daughter, Sara, told NewsNation on Monday that she thought the trial was “rigged,” pointing to Cannon’s link to Trump. Cannon oversaw the president’s classified documents case and regularly earned his praise; the case was dismissed after he took back the White House.
Sarah Routh said that Cannon “should have recused herself from the beginning.”
“If anybody has a heart in the jury, then they’ll see that my father doesn’t deserve it,” she said.
The incident at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach occurred last September, just two months after Trump was bloodied in another assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.
Routh was convicted of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, in addition to the count of attempted assassination.
The Butler shooter was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper seconds after firing. Routh, however, was spotted before Trump came into view, a Secret Service agent testified during the government’s case. He shot at Routh, which caused the defendant to flee without firing his own weapon. Routh was later arrested while driving on a nearby highway.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that the verdict against Routh demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to punishing those who engage in political violence.
“This attempted assassination was not only an attack on our President, but an affront to our very nation itself,” Bondi said, thanking the trial team.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that the verdict sends a “clear message” that an attempt to assassinate a presidential candidate is an “attack on our Republic and on the rights of every citizen.”
“The Department of Justice will relentlessly pursue those who try to silence political voices, and no enemy, foreign or domestic, will ever silence the will of the American people,” he said.
The attempts on Trump’s life fit into the broader trend of attacks on prominent political figures across both parties in recent years.
Kirk, who founded the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot and killed while speaking at a Utah Valley University event.
Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband were assassinated in their home in May, and in April, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and his family were forced to flee the governor’s mansion after a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the home.
In 2022, before the assassination attempts against Trump, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D) husband was attacked with a hammer in their San Francisco home and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, appointed to the high court by Trump, was the target of an assassination attempt.
And in 2021, a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol as Congress voted to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, which was won by former President Biden.
The Associated Press contributed.