Man convicted of trying to assassinate Trump at Florida golf club

Motorcade outside West Palm Beach courthouse, Sept. 23, 2024,
Reuters

A man found lurking with a gun near Donald Trump's Florida golf course last year was found guilty Tuesday of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media.

A jury found that Ryan Routh, 59, intended to kill Trump, then a former U.S. president and Republican presidential candidate, when he pointed a rifle through a fence while Trump was golfing at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on the 15th of September, 2024. 

He was also found guilty on the four other charges he faced, including impeding a federal agent and weapons offenses. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Routh fled from the golf course without firing a shot after a U.S. Secret Service agent patrolling the course ahead of Trump spotted Routh and the rifle and opened fire, according to witness testimony in the case.

“This plot was carefully crafted and deadly serious,” prosecutor John Shipley said at the start of the trial, adding that without the intervention of the Secret Service agent, “Donald Trump would not be alive.”

Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, lauded the verdict, adding, "This was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him."

Routh, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges, opted to fire his lawyers and defend himself at trial. His defence was based on what he described as his gentle and non-violent nature. 

Trump was on the fifth hole a few hundred yards away when Routh was discovered. Routh was arrested later that afternoon after being stopped by police along a Florida highway.

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