Failed Trump assasin Ryan Wesley Routh offered $150K to anyone who could 'complete the job'
The man allegedly behind the second assassination attempt on Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump offered $150,000 to anyone who could kill the former president if he failed to do so.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested earlier this month when he came to the Trump International Golf Club in Florida in an apparent effort to assassinate the Republican candidate.
According to court documents published Monday, Routh had written a letter before his attempt on Trump's life addressing "the world," stating, "I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster."
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"It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job," read the handwritten letter. "Everyone across the globe from the youngest to the oldest know that Trump is unfit to be anything, much less a U.S. president."
In the letter, Routh said he believes that Trump failed to "embody the moral fabric that is America" and did not "stand up for humanity," according to the court document.
Additionally, according to the court filing, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered a book attributed to Routh that was released in February 2023 in which he called for the murder of Trump.
Routh reportedly wrote in the book that he was to blame for helping to elect a "brainless" president, and apologized, calling it a "terrible mistake."
"You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment," read the book excerpt, as quoted in the court document. "No one here in the US seems to have the balls to put natural selection to work or even unnatural selection."
U.S. Magistrate Judge Ryon M. McCabe of the Federal District Court in West Palm Beach, Florida, granted a request on Monday to keep Routh in jail without bond, reported The New York Times.
Routh has been charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm as a felon, which can carry a punishment of as much as 15 years in prison, and with possession of a firearm that had an obliterated serial number.
On Sept. 15, Routh got as close as 300 yards from Trump when the presidential hopeful was playing golf, with a Secret Service agent spotting the attempted shooter and opening fire.
Routh fled the golf course but was eventually apprehended by authorities shortly after the incident.
Routh is not the first person during the current presidential election season to attempt to assassinate Trump.
In July, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, wounding the former president and also killing an event attendee before he was shot dead by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
Last month, Ronald Lee Syvrud, a 66-year-old resident of Benson, Arizona, was arrested for allegedly posting messages on social media in which he threatened to kill Trump.
Authorities had been in the process of apprehending Syvrud in Cochise County when Trump arrived in the area to deliver remarks, as the locality lies on the U.S. border with Mexico.
Trump told the press last month that while he was not aware that the Secret Service was investigating Syvrud for his alleged threats, he was also "not that surprised."
"I've heard it's dangerous, but I also have a job to do. … I haven't heard about that. They probably want to keep it from me,"Trump said. "I have heard it was very unsafe to make this trip, there were some people that really didn't want me to make it."
