Former President Donald Trump's would-be assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, allegedly penned a letter that included a promise of $150,000 to anyone who will "complete the job," Breitbart reported. The Justice Department released the letter's contents to the public, which outraged the Trump family.
Routh showed up at Trump's Palm Beach golf club on Sept. 14 with a rifle and other paraphernalia. He was near where Trump was about to play through when the Secret Service apprehended him.
Thankfully, Routh never got the chance to fire a shot at the former president. However, his damage wasn't quite done after the Justice Department released contents of a letter he purportedly penned to the public.
"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," the 58-year-old said in his handwritten letter. "I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job," Routh wrote.
It's not surprising that the ramblings of a crazed gunman included such a promise. However, it is unfathomable that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' administration would allow it to see the light of day in the press.
Donald Trump Jr. railed against this decision, especially since Harris is his father's political opponent in the 2024 presidential election. The younger Trump also compared it to the way the government handled the manifesto of Audrey Hale, who shot and killed three children and three adults at a Tennessee school last year.
His motives are unknown folks!!!! DOJ releasing this in a week but not the trans killer manifesto for months isn’t signaling anything.
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 23, 2024
"WTF!? Why is Kamala's DOJ publicizing Ryan Wesley Routh putting a bounty on my dad's head???," Donald Trump Jr. wrote.
"His motives are unknown folks!!!! DOJ releasing this in a week but not the trans killer manifesto for months isn’t signaling anything," the younger Trump wrote in a follow-up tweet. Portions of Hale's manifesto leaked to the press confirmed that she was gender-confused and raised suspicions about authorities' reluctance to release it.
This was the second attempt made on Donald Trump's life, and the DOJ isn't being too careful about preventing a third. Former Attorney General William Barr said there was no reason to release Routh's letter "other than to risk inciting further violence," he told Fox News in an exclusive.
The letter, which was addressed "Dear World," was in a box that Routh had entrustd to a friend. "I was dumbfounded that the DOJ made public this morning the contents of the letter that, Ryan Routh, left with an acquaintance prior to the attempted assassination of former President Trump," Barr said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"The letter calls on people to ‘finish the job’ of killing President Trump, attempts to rouse people in incendiary terms to do so, and offers $150,000 to anyone who succeeds. There was no apparent justification for releasing this information at this stage," Barr, who served under Trump and George W. Bush, went on.
"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," Barr later continued.
These attempts on Trump's life have so far been unsuccessful. Releasing a call to arms that comes with a reward is all but asking for a third attempt to be successful.
