As regular readers know, Ryan Routh is the second person to (allegedly) try to murder Donald Trump this year. Today, the Department of Justice filed a ‘Written Factual Proffer in Support of Pretrial Detention.’ (From now on, we will call it the ‘Proffer.’) That is basically a set of facts the DOJ alleges to show why that the court shouldn’t let Routh out under any conditions. Not with a high bail, not with an ankle monitor and home detention, nope, they believe we need to hold him in jail until trial. We are inclined to agree, but in the process they revealed a great deal of what they knew about the case and we covered some of what they disclosed, here.
But one factor that got less attention is the fact that Routh wanted to put out a hit on Trump and the Department of Justice just publicized it!
(We would normally be reluctant to publicize it more, but … well … the toothpaste is already out of the tube, so we might as well talk about it.)
And it should surprise absolutely no one that Donald Trump Jr. had a response to that:
The first post originally was quote posting a post on Twitter/X from Scott MacFarlane, a ‘CBS News Congressional Correspondent.’ It was the same post on Twitter/X cited in our prior coverage, but Mr. MacFarlane has deleted is. But the exact same image of a letter was reposted by this account:
The cut off text reads:
They all want him dead.
Btw, the FBI won't release the Nashville manifesto due to public safety concerns.
(Credit: @MacFarlaneNews)
The text we are concerned about is where Routh (allegedly) writes:
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.
(Emphasis added.) MacFarlane himself seems to have decided he shouldn’t have published the entire picture and instead substituted his original post with these posts:
As you can see, he strategically cuts the picture off just before Routh allegedly puts out the offer. As we said, we were reluctant to even write this post for similar reasons, but it’s already out there, and, frankly, we don't think this website is not where the violent Trump haters tend to go.
And we think it is crucial to call this behavior by the Department of Justice out. It is very hard to understand why the DOJ filed this document in open court with no redactions. The best explanation is incredible stupidity. The worst explanation is far, far more sinister.
But let’s start at the beginning. You can read the entire Proffer, here:
If you read the Proffer itself, a photograph of the letter is found on page 8 and the DOJ helpfully transcribes the contract this man took out on Trump, on page 7. That’s right, if you had trouble reading Routh’s handwriting, the DOJ is helpfully transcribing the message. Here’s what they said in paragraph 18:
On September 18, 2024, law enforcement was contacted by a civilian witness who stated that ROUTH had dropped off a box at his residence several months prior. After learning of the September 15, 2024, incident at Trump International, the witness opened the box. The witness stated the box contained ammunition, a metal pipe, miscellaneous building materials, tools, four phones, and various letters. One handwritten letter, addressed to ‘The World,’ stated, among other things, ‘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.’
You got that? So, until the DOJ filed this Proffer, just about no one knew outside of law enforcement that Routh had (allegedly) sought to put a hit on Trump, except for this apparent good Samaritan witness.
And, it probably wouldn’t be hard to keep a lid on this if they had chosen to. First, the DOJ can and frequently does file documents under seal. Indeed, lawyers are required to place certain information under seal as a matter of routine such as social security numbers. Federal court records are presumed to be open to the public but some things can be kept from the public if the secrecy is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling purpose and we think that is exactly the case, here. Maybe the judge would also ask for a redacted version of this document to be filed on the public docket, but we would be genuinely surprised if the judge wouldn’t grant secrecy on this point.
Second, it is routine to place what is called a ‘protective order’ on parties to a case to keep them from disclosing sealed materials and this is also done routinely. Such an order would forbid the defendant or his counsel from disclosing the allegation that Routh solicited murder, except in appropriate secrecy in court. In addition to that, Routh would also have trouble communicating with the public from jail without a filter.
And while the unidentified witness probably can’t be legally silenced, to be blunt, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t have said anything about it, anyway, especially if the FBI explained to him or her how important it was not to disclose it. That persuasion could be gentle, or they could threaten to prosecute him or her to silence them on this point.
So those are several things that the DOJ could’ve done to avoiding from transmitting a hit on Trump to the entire world, and we have checked the docket: They didn’t do any of that.
You want to know how bad this is?
Ordinarily, this would be solicitation of murder, if there was any evidence that Routh had transmitted the offer to anyone. Here’s what 18 U.S.C. § 373 says about solicitation:
Whoever, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a felony that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against property or against the person of another in violation of the laws of the United States, and under circumstances strongly corroborative of that intent, solicits, commands, induces, or otherwise endeavors to persuade such other person to engage in such conduct …
…shall be imprisoned for various terms depending on some specific circumstances we won’t get into, here. Of course, that statute requires the solicitation of a felony but do we have to tell you it is a federal felony to kill a former president? Well, the statute is 18 U.S.C. § 879 if you are curious.
But an implicit element of the crime is that the defendant has to have transmitted the soliciting communication to some other person. If you stand in a soundproof room all by yourself (and you don’t have a phone on or anything like that) and say ‘Man, I would pay a year’s salary if someone killed John Doe’ that’s not solicitation of murder because you aren’t asking anyone to do anything because no one else can hear you!
And right now, Routh might be able to credibly argue that he never intended to send out that soliciting letter. After all, he left it in a box with this unidentified civilian several months ago, and apparently this civilian didn’t think to open it until three days after the alleged assassination attempt. That suggests that the civilian believed he or she wasn’t supposed to open it. The story suggested by this paragraph is that the civilian allowed the box on their property, but respected Routh’s privacy enough not to open it. But, when he learned that Routh may have attempted to kill Trump, they decided ‘the heck with Routh’s privacy’ and looked in the box. That seems logical, because for all the civilian knew there might be something dangerous in the box. But that fact pattern suggests that Routh might never have expected this civilian to look and thus his bounty on Trump’s head would remain unseen. Thus the crucial element of communication might be missing from any claim Routh solicited murder against Trump.
Except of course, the DOJ provided that communication for Routh. Isn’t that nice of them? Thanks to the DOJ, everyone in the world knows that Routh is offering $150,000 to anyone who kills Trump.
Of course, we will note that there is almost zero chance that if anyone kills Trump they will be able to collect from Routh. First, many people who try to kill a former president will also end up dead (ask Thomas Crooks how that worked out for him). And dead men can’t collect a bounty. Second, we have to doubt that Routh even has the money. Third, even if he has the money, he might decide to keep it for his own defense or just because he wants to keep it. Or he might claim he wasn’t serious about the offer and didn’t intend to make that offer public.
Indeed, do we have to tell you that no court in America would enforce this (alleged) attempted contract? So, if someone actually killed Trump and attempted to collect from Routh, no court would help to enforce this contract.
And naturally, while Routh is innocent until proven guilty, we feel pretty confident that Routh will spend a lot of time in prison over his alleged assassination attempt. So … in the event that Routh is sent to prison for a long time, how would Routh even get $150,000 to a person who takes him up on his offer?
Sorry, to get so dark, but we think it is important to stress that this (alleged) offer from Routh is not actually likely to be honored. Thus, if there is anyone out there on the Internet who would want to kill or harm Trump for the bounty … we don't think you are likely to get a dime from Routh.
Mind you, we don’t think any of our readers are like that, but we figure it is better to cover our bases, anyway.
Incidentally, if you keep reading the Proffer, you will see other details we hadn’t seen before.
For one, it discloses that essentially Routh fled the scene after being shot at by a Secret Service agent (more on that in a moment), seen by a different civilian witness. According to the Proffer, the local police were able to pull Routh over as he fled. Then the same witness was brought to the scene and identified him. If all that is true, that witness is a hero (or heroine). Then they tell us what the cops found in Routh’s car:
14. Law enforcement discovered that the license plate on the Nissan Xterra was not registered to the Nissan Xterra. During a search of the Nissan Xterra, FBI agents found two additional license plates. The agents also found six cellphones. One of the cell phones contained a Google search of how to travel from Palm Beach County to Mexico.
To break in for a moment, another problem with our open borders is that criminals we might want to capture might escape the country.
Back to what the police found:
The agents also found 12 pairs of gloves; a Hawaii Driver’s License in the Defendant’s name; a passport in the Defendant’s name; and documents, including the following:
a. A handwritten list of dates in August, September, and October 2024 and venues where the former President had appeared or was expected to be present.
b. A notebook with dozens of pages filled with names and phone numbers pertaining to Ukraine, discussions about how to join combat on behalf of Ukraine, and notes criticizing the governments of China and Russia.
Also, Routh is an author!
17. As part of this investigation, FBI agents recently reviewed a book apparently authored by ROUTH in February 2023 titled, ‘Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen-Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea, WWIII and the End of Humanity.’ In the book, ROUTH stated that he ‘must take part of the blame for the [person] that we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless, but I am man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake and Iran I apologize. You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of the deal. No one here in the US seems to have the balls to put natural selection to work or even unnatural selection.’
Additionally, we learn a bit more about Routh’s criminal record:
20. On or about December 20, 2002, ROUTH was convicted in Greensboro, North Carolina, of possession of a weapon of mass destruction (a ‘binary explosive device’), in violation of Section 14-288.8 of the North Carolina General Statutes, a class ‘F’ felony. Class F felonies in North Carolina are punishable by terms of up to 59 months’ incarceration.
20. On or about March 3, 2010, ROUTH was convicted of multiple counts of possession of stolen goods, in violation of Section 14-71.1 of the North Carolina General Statutes, a class ‘H’ felony. Class H felonies in North Carolina are punishable by terms of imprisonment of up to 39 months’ incarceration.
For the record, there are two paragraphs marked ‘20’ in the original and that is frankly a common mistake. Also, these convictions mean that it was illegal for Routh to possess a firearm, and yet somehow he was still able to get one. Funny how that works.
Finally, the Proffer gives us more details about what happened during the assassination attempt. It explains that an unnamed Secret Service agent was sweeping ahead of the once and future president for danger as Trump played golf:
3. While the former President was on the 5th hole, the Agent cleared the area along the 6th hole. Specifically, the Agent rode in a golf cart along the chain link fence that separated the 6th hole from Congress Avenue and Summit Boulevard.
4. At approximately 1:30 p.m., the Agent spotted the partially obscured face of a man in the brush along the fence line. The man was later identified as Ryan Wesley Routh (‘ROUTH’). ROUTH’s position was directly in line with the 6th hole. The Agent then observed a long black object protruding through the fence and realized the object was the barrel of a rifle aimed directly at him. The Agent jumped out of the golf cart, drew his weapon, and began backing away. The Agent saw the rifle barrel move, and the Agent fired at ROUTH.
5. The Agent took cover behind a tree and reloaded his weapon, then looked up and saw that ROUTH was gone. The Agent called out over his radio that shots had been fired by the Agent and that there was a subject with a rifle.
6. The position ROUTH occupied when the Agent first noticed him was directly in line with the 6th hole green.
Thus, from the way the DOJ tells it, it sounds like this agent was on the ball, saw the rifle and when he reasonably perceived danger, the agent opened fire. It doesn’t sound like Routh shot at all, as return fire or anything else, but instead fled. So, all the shots were fired by the agent at Routh, suggesting that at least Trump was not in any direct danger due to the firefight. But naturally if this agent had failed to detect Routh, Trump would have been in extreme danger when he arrived at the Sixth hole green.
Oh, and the DOJ just made the Secret Service’s job harder. Thanks for that.
In all seriousness, this behavior is scandalous and the DOJ needs to answer for it.
https://twitchy.com/aaronwalker/2024/09/23/donald-trump-jr-responds-to-the-doj-publicizing-a-hit-on-his-father-n2401312
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