The suspect arrested in the investigation into the alleged assassination attempt against Donald Trump in Florida had expressed in writing months ago his desire to kill the former US president, according to documents released Monday by the prosecution.
In a box left by Ryan Routh several months ago at the home of an acquaintance who opened it after the incident and contacted police on September 18, a handwritten letter addressed to “the world” was found, which read “this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I failed you,” according to documents released by prosecutors.
“It is now up to you to finish the job and I will offer $150,000 to whoever completes it,” the suspect added, apparently blaming Mr. Trump for causing chaos in the Middle East by unilaterally sabotaging the international agreement with Iran on its nuclear program in 2018.
Ryan Routh, 58, who was put on the run on September 15 by Secret Service agents without being able to aim his weapon at the Republican candidate on his golf course in Florida (southeast), was arrested less than an hour later.
A hearing on his continued detention is scheduled for Monday in West Palm Beach District Court. He is currently charged with unlawful possession of a firearm based on his criminal record and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
The box also contained ammunition, a metal pipe and four telephones, according to the same source.
In a self-published book published in February 2023 on the war in Ukraine, Ryan Routh also wrote: “You are free as I am to assassinate Trump for this misjudgment and the dismantling of the deal” with Iran, regretting that “no one in the United States seems to have the balls to make natural or even unnatural selection work.”
Furthermore, according to the analysis by the FBI, the American federal police, of the location of his phones, he had been in West Palm Beach, Florida, since August 18, and his devices were reported on multiple occasions between that date and September 15 near Donald Trump’s golf course and his Mar-a-Lago residence.
