The failed assassination on Donald Trump did no credit to the Secret Service, critics said
The man who tried to kill Donald Trump at a Florida golf course in Sept 2024, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Judge Aileen Cannon said Ryan Routh’s crime “undeniably warrant a life sentence.
“He took steps over the course of months to assassinate a major presidential candidate, demonstrated the will to kill anybody in the way, and has since expressed neither regret nor remorse to his victims,” she wrote.
Routh’s lawyer said they would be appealing the sentence. His trial last year had ended with a guilty verdict with prosecutors claiming a “mountain of evidence” had implicated him.
At the trial it was disclosed that at no point did Routh have a clear line of sight on Trump that would have enabled him to shoot him. But police recovered a semiautomatic rifle with a scope from where he had been hiding.
In a note to a friend, Routh had also said he intended to assassinate Trump. But during the trial, he behaved erratically, rambling on about the Ukraine war and his plans to buy a boat. He also challenged Trump to a game of golf and made references to Adolf Hitler and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
But Routh denied his guilt, and in a series of bizarre remarks, demanded that he be exchanged for political prisoners held overseas.
“I have given every drop of who I am every day for the betterment of my community and this nation,” he said. He also said he would be willing to undergo psychological counselling while in prison.
Routh is a native of North Carolina. He is the second person to have attempted to assassinate Trump, the first being 20-year-old Thomas Crooks who tried to kill him while he was addressing a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July 2024.
Crooks injured Trump and killed a bystander. He was later shot dead by police.
Previous articleUS, Iran Agree to Oman Talks Amid Rising Military TensionsNext articleNew START Expires, Nuclear Uncertainty Deepens