Exclusive – Former Attorney General William Barr said he was “astonished” that the Justice Department released the horrifying letter written by the would-be assassin. Ryan Wesley Routh He said Monday the decision was “rash” and would “serve no purpose other than risk inciting further violence.”
Routh is a suspect in a second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, and the Department of Justice obtained the letter from a witness who said it was in a box delivered by Routh several months before the assassination attempt.
Inside the box were several handwritten letters, ammunition, and other items. One letter, addressed to “Dear World,” admitted to an attempt to assassinate President Trump and offered money to anyone willing to carry out the assassination.
“I was stunned this morning by the Department of Justice's release of the contents of a letter Ryan Routh left for an acquaintance prior to the assassination attempt on former President Trump,” Barr said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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On December 21, 2020, former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr held a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, to mark the 32nd anniversary of the Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist bombing and provide an update on the investigation. (Photo: Michael Reynolds Pool/Getty Images)
“The letter calls on people to 'complete the mission' of assassinating President Trump, uses inflammatory language to inspire people and offers a $150,000 reward to anyone who succeeds. We see no justification for making this information public at this time,” it continued.
Barr, who served in both the Trump and George H.W. Bush administrations, said the Department of Justice had “sufficient evidence to hold Mr. Routh until trial without disclosing any details.”
“If the Department of Justice believed it was important to submit the letter to the Court, it could have edited out the inflammatory content or arranged for the letter to be submitted under seal. It was imprudent to release this letter in the middle of an election that saw two assassination attempts on President Trump,” Barr said.
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Ryan W. Routh, suspected of plotting to assassinate Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump at a golf course in West Palm Beach, stands handcuffed after being arrested for a traffic violation near Palm City, Florida, on September 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff's Office/Distributed via Reuters)
“It had no purpose other than to risk inciting further violence,” he added.
According to a Justice Department detention memo, Routh traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach, Florida, on Aug. 14, one month before the Sept. 15 golf course incident. One of Routh's cellphones sent signals to cell towers near Trump's golf course and Mar-a-Lago estate “on multiple dates and times” between Aug. 18 and Sept. 15, the detention memo said.
Investigators say they also found a book written by Rouse in 2023 titled “Ukraine's Unwinnable War: Democracy's Fatal Flaw, World Abandonment, and Global Citizenship: Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea, World War III, and the End of Humanity.”
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A courtroom sketch shows Ryan Rouse appearing in federal court on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Lothar Speer)
The detention memo also includes new details about a witness who saw Routh fleeing the sniper nest. The witness made eye contact with the suspect before Routh hopped into a Nissan Xterra and fled the scene. The witness reportedly took a photo of the vehicle and called police.
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The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Routh could face additional charges in the coming days, including aggravated assault charges for allegedly pointing a rifle at a Secret Service agent and threatening former president and State Attorney Dave Aronberg. He previously told Fox News Digital.
