by WorldTribune Staff, September 24, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
Would-be assassin Ryan Routh had been planning to shoot GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump for months and even wrote a note in case he failed which offered a cash reward for anyone who finished the job, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Dear World, This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you,” said the handwritten note from Routh which was released be federal prosecutors on Monday.
“I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It’s up to you to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job,” Routh wrote.
Federal prosecutors included a photo of the note in a new court filing as they called on a judge to keep Routh detained while his court case proceeds.
Meanwhile, Trump issue a withering attack [see below] on the credibility of the DOJ which he charged has disqualified itself from investigating the assassination attempts.
Human Events editor Jack Posobiec noted: "Merrick Garland's DOJ has just revealed there is an active 'Trump bounty' for $150,000. There's a 2nd page of Routh's bounty letter that the DOJ claims references Iran, but they haven't released it. There are also other letters they haven't released. Did he write another letter in case he succeeded?"
A witness found the note inside of a box that Routh had dropped off months before he set up his assassin's nest at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15. The witness opened the box, which also contained ammunition, tools and a metal pipe, after learning that Routh had been accused of trying to kill Trump.
Related: Federal agencies appear to cover up money trail of would-be Trump assassins, September 22, 2024
The 58-year-old Routh also kept detailed lists of Trump’s whereabouts, prosecutors said.
Routh had compiled a handwritten list of dates and places where he expected the the former president to be, and had arrived in Florida more than a month before the encounter, prosecutors said. Cellphone records showed he had on multiple days between Aug. 18 and Sept. 15 traveled near the West Palm Beach golf course which is about 5 miles from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
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Officials said Routh hid undetected near the golf course for nearly 12 hours on Sept. 15 before a Secret Service agent spotted him and opened fire. Authorities don’t think Routh fired a shot. He had been roughly 400 yards away from Trump, but didn’t have a direct line of sight to him, officials said. He sped off in a black Nissan but was captured soon after as he fled north on Interstate 95.
Prosecutors found “a notebook with dozens of pages filled with names and phone numbers pertaining to Ukraine, discussions about how to join combat on behalf of Ukraine,” court documents state.
“[The former President] ended relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has unraveled,” Routh allegedly wrote in one of the documents, according to the court papers.
Cellphone records from two of the recovered phones show that Routh traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach on Aug. 14, prosecutors noted.
A cellphone that was recovered by authorities showed a Google search of how to travel from Palm Beach County, Florida, to Mexico.
Federal officials also found a list with dates in August, September, and October as well as venues where the former president had appeared and was scheduled to appear, prosecutors said.
During his first court appearance last week, Routh declared that he had no assets and only owned two trucks worth $1,000. In a 2023 book that was apparently written by him, Routh also wrote that he had no bank account and no retirement savings.
