❓WHAT HAPPENED: Ryan Routh, who attempted to assassinate President Donald J. Trump just before the 2024 election, has received a life sentence in prison.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Ryan Routh, President Trump, and Judge Aileen Cannon.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday, February 4, 2026, in Florida.
🎯IMPACT: A federal jury in Florida found Routh guilty of attempting to assassinate Trump last September, prompting Routh to try to kill himself by stabbing a pen into his neck as the verdict was being announced.
Ryan Routh, who attempted to assassinate President Donald J. Trump just before the 2024 election, has received a life sentence in prison. A federal jury in Florida found Routh guilty of attempting to assassinate Trump last September, prompting Routh to try to kill himself by stabbing a pen into his neck as the verdict was being announced.
Notably, early on in his trial, Routh fired his defense attorneys and represented himself—resulting in a number of bizarre incidents and behavior by the would-be assassin. He attempted to argue that he committed no crime as he never fired a shot. However, his rambling, 42-minute closing argument, which featured references to Ukraine, was shut down by Judge Aileen Cannon for being off-topic.
Before attempting to kill then-candidate Trump, Routh ran the International Volunteer Center in Ukraine and spent a great deal of time in Kiev over the past several years. Additionally, he appears to have been deeply involved with efforts to send Afghanistan military veterans, who fled the country after the Taliban retook power, to Ukraine to bolster the Eastern European nation’s efforts to halt the Russian invasion.
The National Pulse reported in September of 2024 that Routh had offered a $150,000 bounty to “whomever can complete the job” of assassinating President Trump, a task which he eventually took up himself as the President played a round of golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Routh was also hit with numerous state criminal charges in Florida, including an attempted felony murder charge for causing severe injuries to a six-year-old girl during his failed escape in the wake of the attempted assassination. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) has also charged Routh with first-degree attempted murder and a terrorism offense.
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