Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr said there is no reason why the Department of Justice (DOJ) should have released a letter allegedly penned by the suspect of an alleged second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump that was referenced during the suspect’s second court hearing on Monday.
The DOJ submitted the letter—which months before the alleged assassination attempt was left with an individual who contacted law enforcement after learning that Ryan Routh was the suspect—in a bid to keep him detained before his trial on federal weapons violations. A federal judge on Monday agreed to deny Routh’s request for bail, while prosecutors later said that they would seek attempted assassination charges against the suspect.
“The letter ... attempts to rouse people in incendiary terms” to take action against Trump, Barr said.
“There was no apparent justification for releasing this information at this stage.
“It served no purpose other than to risk inciting further violence.”
“I find that the weight of the evidence against the defendant is strong,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Ryon McCabe said during the bail hearing on Monday, according to court reporters. The judge sided with prosecutors in finding that Routh presents a risk to the public and also a flight risk, citing evidence presented in the court filing that Routh had searched on his phone how to travel from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Mexico.
The letter allegedly written by Routh in the months leading up to the alleged assassination attempt was addressed to the “World” and contained the suspect’s apparent admission that he was trying to assassinate Trump. The letter read, “But I failed you,” and added in part, “I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster.”
Barr was the U.S. attorney general under the Trump administration before he resigned in late 2020. He previously served in that position under President George H.W. Bush.
“Even if DOJ thought it important to provide the letter to the court, it could have redacted inflammatory material or arranged to have the letter submitted under seal. It was rash to put out this letter in the midst of an election during which two attempts on the life of President Trump had been made,” the former attorney general told Fox News.
The letter and other new details were meant to bolster the DOJ’s contention that the 58-year-old suspect had engaged in a premeditated plan to assassinate Trump, which officials say was thwarted by a U.S. Secret Service agent who saw the suspect’s rifle in the bushes near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach while he was golfing. The agent then fired in Routh’s direction, forcing him to flee, authorities have said.
The handwritten letter allegedly describing Routh’s plans was placed in a box that he dropped off months earlier at the home of an unidentified person who did not open it until after last Sunday’s arrest, prosecutors said.
The box also contained ammunition, a metal pipe, building materials, tools, phones, and various letters. The person who received the box and contacted law enforcement was not identified in the DOJ’s detention memo and was described only as a “civilian witness.”
In Monday’s hearing, Kristy Militello, an assistant federal public defender representing Routh, asked during Monday’s hearing for Routh to be permitted to live with his sister in Greensboro, North Carolina, as the case moves forward. She argued that prosecutors had failed to show that he was a threat to the community and noted his track record of habitually showing up for court appearances throughout decades of legal troubles.
Previously, FBI officials said Routh was positioned near the golf course for 12 hours before he was arrested on Sept. 15. Routh didn’t fire any shots and had no direct line of sight to Trump, they said.
During the incident, authorities recovered an SKS-style rifle with a scope that authorities say had a scratched-off serial number. Routh currently faces charges of possession of a firearm as a felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Routh has entered no plea, and his next court date is scheduled for next Monday, Sept. 30.
The alleged assassination plot was the second attempt in as many months against Trump, who was nearly struck in the skull by a bullet fired by a gunman at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. The suspect in that case, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot and killed moments later by Secret Service snipers.
The Epoch Times contacted the DOJ for comment on Tuesday but received no word back.
