Man found guilty of trying to assassinate Donald Trump at Florida golf course

A man has been found guilty of trying to assassinate Donald Trump last year at his Florida golf course.

The jury of five men and seven women found Ryan Routh guilty on all counts after two hours of deliberation.

Routh had been charged with attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, 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.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges and defended himself in court.

Routh tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen shortly after being found guilty. Officers quickly swarmed him and dragged him out of the courthouse.

His daughter Sara Routh screamed: “Dad, I love you, don’t do anything. I’ll get you out. He didn’t hurt anybody.”

US District Judge Aileen Cannon listening to Ryan Routh in court. PA Media

Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Mr Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the president played golf on September 15 2024 at his West Palm Beach country club.

Routh told jurors in his closing argument that he did not intend to kill anyone.

“It’s hard for me to believe that a crime occurred if the trigger was never pulled,” he said.

He pointed out that he could see Mr Trump as he was on the path towards the sixth hole at the golf course and noted that he also could have shot a Secret Service agent who confronted him if he had intended to harm anyone.

Routh, 59, exercised his constitutional right not to give evidence in his own defence. He rested his case on Monday morning after questioning three witnesses — a firearms expert and two characters witnesses — for a total of about three hours. In contrast, prosecutors spent seven days questioning 38 witnesses.

Attorney general Pam Bondi said wrote on X that the guilty verdict “illustrates the Department of Justice’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,” she said.

US District Judge Aileen Cannon signed off on Routh’s request to represent himself after two hearings in July. The US Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants have a right to represent themselves in court proceedings, as long as they can show a judge they are competent to waive their right to be defended by a lawyer.

Routh’s former lawyers have served as standby counsel since he took over his own defence and have been present during the trial over the past two weeks.

Recounting what happened at the golf course, a Secret Service agent told the trial he spotted Routh before Mr Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot, the agent said.

Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who told the court he saw a person fleeing the area after hearing gunshots. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested, and the witness said he confirmed it was the person he had seen.

Nine weeks earlier, Mr Trump had survived an attempt on his life while campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania. That gunman fired eight shots, with one bullet grazing the president’s ear. The gunman was then shot dead by a Secret Service counter sniper.

Routh was a North Carolina construction worker who in recent years had moved to Hawaii. A self-styled mercenary leader, he spoke out to anyone who would listen about his dangerous and sometimes violent plans to insert himself into conflicts around the world, witnesses have told the Associated Press.

In the early days of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to fight the Russians. In his native Greensboro, he was arrested in 2002 for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction”, which turned out to be an explosive with a 10in fuse, police said.

In 2010, officers searched a warehouse Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen items, from power tools and building supplies to kayaks and spa baths. In both felony cases, judges gave Routh either probation or a suspended sentence.

Besides the federal charges, Routh has also pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder.