Trump assassination attempts ‘abhorrent,’ AG Merrick Garland tells SC law enforcement

Decrying two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland laid out the evidence in Columbia, South Carolina, including handwritten letters addressed to “the World,” that led to the would-be shooter being charged with attempted assassination.

“Our nation has now experienced two assassination attempts against the former president in just the last three months. That is abhorrent,” Garland said Wednesday. “The Justice Department is committed to using the full force of our authorities to thoroughly investigate every lead and ensure accountability in this matter.”

Garland delivered these remarks while attending a meeting of state and federal law enforcement leaders at the offices of Adair Boroughs, the U.S. Attorney for South Carolina.

While in town to discuss efforts to combat crime in South Carolina, Garland diverted briefly to discuss the new charges against Ryan Wesley Routh, the man charged with attempting to assassinate Trump on Sept. 15. Routh was charged with attempted assassination, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and assaulting or intimidating a Secret Service agent.

The nation’s highest law enforcement official, Garland’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Barack Obama was held up by Senate Republicans in 2016 in what was largely seen as an attempt to build support for Trump, who was running for president. The vacancy was filled by Neil Gorsuch. Garland was appointed Attorney General by President Joe Biden in 2021.

Routh’s alleged assassination plan was foiled when a Secret Service agent spotted his rifle barrel poking out of bushes while Trump golfed several hundred yards away.

The agent opened fire on Routh, 58, who fled, leaving behind what’s been described as an AK-47-style rifle with an obliterated serial number, extended ammunition clip and a scope, along with two bags lined with plates capable of stopping small arms fire and a GoPro camera strapped to a chain link fence.

Routh, who did not have time to fire a shot before Secret Service agents spotted him, was originally charged and held on federal firearms charges that make it illegal for a felon to possess a gun.

Detaining Routh on those charges enabled federal law enforcement to gather enough evidence over 11 days to charge him with attempted assassination, Garland said Wednesday.

Among that evidence was cell tower records showing that Routh had hung around Trump’s golf course in Mar-a-Lago in the weeks leading up to the assassination attempt; a handwritten list taken from Routh’s car cataloging the dates and locations of Trump’s past and expected appearances; a box Routh allegedly left with a witness several months ago containing a statement addressed to “the World,” which read, in part, “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.”

“This investigation is still in its early stages and remains active and ongoing,” Garland said, adding, “And as in all cases, the allegations we make in our filings are just that until we prove them in court beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Routh, a building contractor who voted for Trump in 2016, appeared to turn on the former president following the storming of U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a book he self-published last year, Routh appeared to tell Iran that the country was “free to assassinate Trump,” according to the Associated Press, who first reported on the book.

Routh also had an extensive criminal record, with charges including a felony in December 2002 for “possessing a weapon of mass death and destruction,” according to the New York Times. That year, the Times reported that Routh was arrested in Greensboro, North Carolina, after barricading himself inside a building with an automatic weapon.