By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2024-09-25 23:52:31 | Updated at 2024-09-30 05:16:06
4 days ago
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan criticized the Justice Department for releasing a disturbing letter from Ryan Wesley Routh, the alleged would-be assassin who targeted former President Donald Trump — warning that its release could inspire copycats.
Jordan (R-Ohio), 60, sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, 71, on Wednesday raising the concerns while also pointing to the DOJ’s past resistance to divulging manifestos.
Prosecutors disclosed the chilling note — which offered a $150,000 bounty on Trump, 78, — in a public court filing Monday as part of a motion to hold Routh, 58 in pretrial detention.
“The Department’s decision to broadcast the attempted assassin’s bounty on President Trump—at the same time that the Department is aggressively and unconstitutionally prosecuting President Trump raises significant concern that the Department could cause additional harm to occur,” Jordan wrote.
Routh allegedly put the note, which was addressed “To the World,” in a box at someone’s home weeks before his arrest on Sept. 15 after being caught with a loaded SKS-style rifle on Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach, according to prosecutors.
“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” the letter read. “I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster.”
In the alleged note, Routh then made a public plea to “finish the job” and offered a $150,000 bounty.
Secret Service Acting Director Ron Rowe Jr. previously said that Routh “did not fire or get off any shots at our agent.”
A Secret Service agent had opened fire on Routh after seeing the gun through a fence near his apparent sniper’s nest off the 6th hole on the golf course. Routh then fled the scene but was caught after a chase.
Prosecutors cited Routh’s alleged note as evidence of his intention to murder the 45th president, but the disclosure had drawn criticism, including from former US Attorney General William Barr, who said he was “dumbfounded” by the move. Barr argued that the note should’ve at least been redacted.
“During your tenure as Attorney General, the Department has generally refused to release details about so-called ‘manifestos’ written by the perpetrators of high-profile crimes,” Jordan emphasized in his letter to Garland.
“This decision seems to contravene the Department’s stated policy that ‘public access to legacy tokens,’ more commonly known as manifestos, ‘will contribute to further attacks’ by ‘spark[ing] incredibly intense interest and study’ by potential copycat offenders and providing a blueprint for future attackers,” he added.
The Buckeye State Republican is demanding the DOJ cough up all communications and documents about the decision to release Routh’s letter in the public filing.
He gave the Justice Department a 5 pm deadline on Oct. 9 to meet his demand. The Post contacted a DOJ spokesperson for comment.
Routh was initially slapped with two charges including for illegal possession of a gun as a felon and possession of a gun with an obliterated serial number.
On Tuesday, a grand jury indicted him on a charge of attempted assassination of a political figure, assaulting a federal officer and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump and oversaw before tossing out the 40-count Mar-a-Lago document indictment against him, was assigned to Routh’s case.
Garland has vowed to deploy the “full force of our authorities to thoroughly investigate every lead and ensure accountability into this matter.”
“Our nation has now experienced two assassination attempts against the former president in just the last three months,” he said on Wednesday.
