WASHINGTON, D.C. — The man accused in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump at a golf course in Florida left behind a note saying he intended to kill the former president and maintained in his car a handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump was to appear, the Justice Department said Monday.
Prosecutors assert that Greensboro’s Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, had set out to kill Trump before the plot was thwarted by a Secret Service agent who spotted a rifle poking out of shrubbery on the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing.
The note, addressed “Dear World,” was placed in a box that was dropped at the home of an unidentified person who contacted law enforcement officials after last Sunday’s arrest. It appears to have been based on the premise that the assassination attempt would be ultimately unsuccessful.
The box, which also contained ammunition, a metal pipe and other items, was not opened by the person until after Routh was taken into custody. The person who received the box and contacted law enforcement was not identified in the Justice Department’s detention memo.
“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job,” the note said, according to prosecutors.
An attorney for Routh didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Monday morning.
Authorities who searched his car found six cellphones, including one that showed a Google search of how to travel from Palm Beach County to Mexico.
They also found a list with dates in August, September and October and venues where Trump had appeared or was scheduled to, according to prosecutors. A notebook found in his car was filled with criticism of the Russian and Chinese governments and notes about how to join the war on behalf of Ukraine.
Cellphone records indicate Routh traveled to West Palm Beach from Greensboro in mid-August, and that he was near Trump’s golf club and the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence “on multiple days and times” between Aug. 18 and the day of the apparent attempted assassination.
