Trump Suspect Ryan Routh Predicts Civil War if Donald Wins

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Newsweek

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Trump Suspect Ryan Routh Predicts Civil War if Donald Wins

Story by Kaitlin Lewis

 

Ryan Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at a golf course in Florida in September, recently warned that the former president "will not let go of power" if he is given a second term in the White House.

According to a report from The Palm Beach Post over the weekend, Routh sent an "unsolicited letter" to the newsroom a few weeks after prosecutors had warned that he may try to contact the media.

 

 

 

 

The letter was reportedly addressed from "Trump Alleged Shooter Ryan W. Routh," and the suspect's daughter confirmed the authenticity of the letter, the newspaper's report read.

Newsweek was unable to independently confirm the authenticity of the letter. An email was sent to Routh's attorneys for comment on Monday.

Routh is facing three firearm charges, an attempted assassination charge and an assaulting a federal officer charge after a U.S. Secret Service agent reportedly spotted him pointing the barrel of a rifle through a bush line near the Trump International Golf Club while the former president was on the green on September 15.

The suspect has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. He could face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

In the letter sent to the Post, the newspaper said was handwritten, Routh did not discuss his purported assassination attempt against Trump but instead warned that another Trump administration could be "the end of democracy and the beginnings of a civil war," read the report on the matter. Routh also claimed that the former president "will not let go of power if we all give it to him."

 

 

 

 

"Will Palm Beach County hand the keys to our nation to the Trumps for the next century or more?" read the letter. "How does Palm Beach view its neighbor?"

"Palm Beach should be leading the way and guiding our country hopefully to choose democracy over a dictator," Routh added in part. "I hope that you will respect your leadership role and push your state and country to maintain our American way of life for our children. Please help."

 

Prosecutors say that Routh wrote a letter months before the purported assassination attempt in which he wrote about failing to kill Trump.

"This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you," read the handwritten note. "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 Post said in its report that the handwriting of Routh's letter to the newsroom matches the letter he wrote about failing to kill Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump, the GOP nominee, is locked in a dead heat with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in the final hours of the 2024 election. The former president has been accused by former members of his administration of praising dictators, including Nazi Germany leader Adolf Hitler, behind closed doors while in office.

Critics, including Democrats, have also repeatedly described Trump as a fascist. Harris has told voters in the final days of her campaign that "democracy is on the line."

Trump and his allies have blamed Democrats for sparking violence against the former president by describing him as a "danger" or "threat" to democracy. In July, Trump faced another assassination attempt while campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania. That shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, grazed Trump's right ear and shot three others in the crowd, killing one rallygoer.

 

After facing backlash for suggesting during a rally on Sunday that he "wouldn't mind" if someone had to "shoot through the fake news" to hit him, Trump's campaign pointed a finger at the "dangerous rhetoric from Democrats."

"[Former] President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within 1/4 of an inch from killing him," Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign communications director, previously wrote in an email to Newsweek. "The [former] President's statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else. It was about threats against him that were spurred on by dangerous rhetoric from Democrats."