Ryan Routh has been charged with attempting to assassinate Trump at his golf course using a rifle. The DOJ says the would-be assassin also sought an RPG from Ukraine.
Alleged would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh sought anti-aircraft weapons from Ukraine the month prior to his attempt last year on now-President Donald Trump’s life, the Justice Department revealed this week.
Secret Service agents had spotted Routh in September 2024 with a rifle at Trump’s Florida golf course in what authorities said was an apparent assassination attempt on the former and future president. And now the DOJ is seeking to admit evidence in court arguing Routh had also considered trying to shoot down Trump’s plane with a rocket.
Prosecutors told the judge on Monday, “This Court should admit Routh’s August 2024 attempt to acquire anti-aircraft weapons as direct evidence of his assassination attempt.”
Routh “sought to purchase the devices online from an associate Routh believed to be a Ukrainian with access to military weapons,” the DOJ said in its new court filing, with the attempted assassin telling his contact via an encrypted messaging app to “send me an rpg [rocket propelled grenade] or stinger and I will see what we can do… [Trump] is not good for Ukraine.”
Routh was indicted in September 2024 on five felony counts, including the “attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.”
The DOJ alleged he “did intentionally attempt to kill Former President of the United States Donald J. Trump.”
He was allegedly hidden in shrubbery and pointing his SKS-style rifle through the fence line of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, when Secret Service agents spotted him and fired in his direction, forcing him to abort the attempted attack.
The DOJ said Monday that Routh and his associate, whom he believed to be a Ukrainian who could get his hands on military hardware, discussed the July 2024 attempt by Thomas Crooks to assassinate Trump in Pennsylvania, with Routh writing “I wish” before the two began discussing Routh’s attempted purchase of a weapon.
