Former Attorney General Bill Barr said he was “astonished” by the Department of Justice's release of a letter from Ryan Wesley Routh, a man accused of plotting to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
bar explanation In a statement to Fox News, the Justice Department said the decision to release the contents of the letter, which it said it received through a witness, was “imprudent” given the two assassination attempts against Trump.
Ryan Wesley Rouse (right) attends a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
The Justice Department on Monday released a letter that witnesses say was in the box months ago. In the letter, allegedly written by Routh, the suspected assassin apologized for the failed attempt to assassinate President Trump and offered a $150,000 reward to anyone who could 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.
Attorney General Barr added that releasing the letter “had no purpose other than to risk inciting further violence” and said the Justice Department could have “redacted the inflammatory content” of the letter.
In this image taken from police body camera footage released by the Martin County, Florida, Sheriff's Office, officers arrest Ryan Routh, a suspect in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via The Associated Press)
“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,” Barr added. “It was imprudent to release this letter in the middle of an election that has seen two assassination attempts on President Trump's life.”
Routh was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number after hiding in bushes near the Trump International Golf Course, where President Trump was playing golf on September 15.
Check it out — a trophy! Sheriff hands President Trump the signed handcuffs used to arrest the shooter:
The Secret Service reportedly found the rifle barrel and opened fire, causing Routh to flee and was later arrested.
The assassination attempt on Trump took place on July 13 at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, after suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from the roof of a building in direct view of Trump. Trump was ultimately shot above his right ear with a “penetrating bullet.”
