(LifeSiteNews) — Ryan Routh was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at his golf course in the months leading up to the 2024 election.
As covered by LifeSiteNews at the time, in September 2024, Routh went to the president’s country club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he reportedly pushed his AK-47 rifle through a fence before fleeing when U.S. Secret Service agents opened fire. He was arrested by law enforcement soon after.
A disgruntled former construction worker, Routh’s background contained mixed political signals, having donated to Democratic candidates while publicly writing he had voted for Trump in 2016 but later became disappointed with him.
A significant factor in his motivation appeared to be frustration with Trump’s perceived lack of commitment to helping Ukraine repel the ongoing Russian invasion. A 2023 New York Times interview presented Routh as being involved in efforts to recruit volunteers to join Ukraine’s efforts, though officials in Kyiv, the International Legion in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Azov Brigade later denied any connection with him.
Routh also appeared to have a history of mental instability and previous trouble with the law, including barricading himself inside a building while armed in 2002, the News and Record reported, and convictions for “possession of a weapon of mass destruction… carrying a concealed weapon, possession of stolen property and hit-and-run,” per NBC News.
A neighbor of Routh’s of 18 years from his time living in North Carolina, Kim Mungo, described his family as strange but not troublesome, and said she never got any indication he held strong political views. She added that she would sometimes drive his daughter, with whom she was close, to school.
“He had a horse in the house. I mean, a whole live horse in the house. But I could see the guns and stuff and all. They were … oh, I mean, kind of weird. But they didn’t bother me. I didn’t bother them,” Mungo said. “It’s just crazy to me. He was a good guy. He was sweet.”
After representing himself in court (in a trial during which he challenged Trump to a golf game to decide his fate), Routh was found guilty on five counts: attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm as a felon, and using a gun with a defaced serial number. After the verdict was read, he attempted to stab himself with a pen (which had been designed not to puncture).
This week, Judge Aileen Cannon sentenced Routh to life imprisonment plus seven years, calling him “evil” while hailing law enforcement and witnesses for providing a “sliver of hope, a sliver of light.” An attorney appointed to him after conviction says he intends to appeal, arguing Routh never meant to harm Trump and did not receive a fair trial by virtue of representing himself.
The attempt on Trump’s life came just two months after would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks got off a shot at the president at a Pennsylvania campaign rally, grazing his ear. Crooks was killed on the scene, but both assailants getting so close raised questions about the performance of the Secret Service.
