The man charged with trying to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump in Florida sent a letter to a news outlet saying he considered himself a compatriot of the first would-be assassin of Mr. Trump.
He also called the incoming president a “dictator,” echoing the rhetoric of Democrats and other political opponents of Mr. Trump.
Ryan Routh, 58, referred to himself multiple times as the “Trump alleged shooter” in the four-page letter sent from a Miami federal prison to Politico columnist Ankush Khardori.
Routh likened himself to Thomas Matthew Crooks, the Pennsylvania gunman who nearly assassinated Mr. Trump during a July rally in Pennsylvania, by saying both he and Crooks were “ready to die for freedom and democracy.”
Crooks unloaded eight rounds in his attempt to kill the president-elect at an outdoor rally in Butler County. Mr. Trump narrowly escaped with a graze wound to his ear. Three other rallygoers were wounded, one fatally. Secret Service snipers killed Crooks moments after the shots rang out.
Two months later, Routh was accused of trying to assassinate Mr. Trump when he camped out with a rifle along the edge of the incoming president’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Secret Service agents scouting ahead of Mr. Trump spotted a gunman hiding in the brush and opened fire on him.
Routh, a convicted felon, was arrested shortly afterward and later charged with attempted assassination. Mr. Trump was never shot at during the September attempt on his life.
Politico said Routh wrote the letter before the president-elect won at the ballot box this month. Still, the missive discussed how the nation needed to limit presidential powers in the event Mr. Trump did win the election.
Routh wrote that the country must “limit all Presidential power before Trump seizes our country” and “remove the power of our military by the President and place it with Congress before January.”
He called on Americans to “encircle the Capitol” to prevent another Jan. 6, 2021-style siege and also made several references to the possibility of a “civil war” breaking out.
The suspect further criticized the two-party political system and mentioned how he clapped back at a guard who assumed he was a Democrat.
“A guard [in] Palm Beach asked jokingly if I was a democrat — I said, ’NO — Independent — I vote for the best candidate.’”
Routh blamed Mr. Trump for destroying the Middle East by withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. He urged President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to meet with Israel, as well as the president of Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, to work out a peace deal.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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