The pro-Ukraine activist set up an ambush at the then-presidential candidate’s Florida golf course last September
A US jury on Tuesday found pro-Ukraine activist Ryan Wesley Routh guilty of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump during his reelection campaign in 2024.
The would-be assassin set up a “sniper’s hide” in the perimeter of Trump’s Florida golf course, but was discovered by a Secret Service agent, who opened fire on Routh and spooked him, the Justice Department wrote in a press release on Tuesday.
Routh was later apprehended fleeing the scene in his car. According to the authorities, a number of mobile phones, as well as a list of flights out of the country for that day, were discovered in the vehicle.
“Today’s guilty verdict against would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh illustrates the Department of Justice’s commitment to punishing those who engage in political violence,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement published by the DOJ.
The attack was not only an attack on the US president, “but an affront to our very nation itself,” she added.
BREAKING: The man convicted in the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, Ryan Routh, tried to stab himself with a pen after his guilty verdict was read. pic.twitter.com/DrivgddReh
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) September 23, 2025
Routh was convicted of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and several other charges. He faces life in prison when he is sentenced later this year.
According to CNN, Routh appeared to attempt to stab himself in the neck with a pen as the charges were read, but was stopped by the authorities.
Ahead of the assassination attempt, the pro-Kiev activist attempted to purchase a rocket launcher from a Ukrainian associate, according to the case documents.
“I need equipment so that Trump don’t get elected,” he said in one message cited by the prosecution, in which he argued that in war, these weapons are “lost and destroyed daily – one missing would not be noticed.”
Routh’s attempted ambush came just two months after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Thomas Crooks fired a number of shots at the then-presidential candidate, grazing his ear and killing a spectator, before being killed by a Secret Service sniper.
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