by WorldTribune Staff, September 24, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
The Department of Justice was slammed for releasing a letter by would-be assassin Ryan Routh which included a cash offer to kill GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., said the DOJ essentially placed a “bounty” on his father’s life.
“WTF!? Why is Kamala’s DOJ publicizing Ryan Wesley Routh putting a bounty on my dad’s head???” Trump Jr. posted to X on Monday.
Bill Barr, the former attorney general who despite heavy criticism of Trump in the past said he will support him in November, said he was dumbfounded” that current Attorney General Merrick Garland approved the release of Routh’s the letter, calling the decision “rash” and serving no purpose “other than to risk inciting further violence.”
Related: ‘Dear World, I’m so sorry I failed you’: Ryan Routh’s failed assassin note released, September 23, 2024
Barr told Fox News Digital: “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.”
Routh’s letter reads: “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. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”
The letter, addressed to “the world,” said Trump had “ended relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has unraveled.”
Elie Honig, former assistant U.S. attorney, said during a CNN appearance on Monday night that he agreed with Barr that releasing the letter risked “inciting further violence.”
“I don’t often agree with Bill Barr, but I do here,” Honig said. “What the feds could have done in their brief … is just say, ‘We recovered a letter from him, from his possessions, where he says this was an attempted assassination.’ That’s it. Instead, they published the whole letter.”
“To somebody who’s unbalanced, who’s dangerous, [they] could see that as some kind of call to arms,” Honig added. “So, I disagree with that tactic by the feds. I think it’s counterproductive.”
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Trump said in a statement: “The Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Department of Justice and FBI are mishandling and downplaying the second assassination attempt on my life since July. The charges brought against the maniac assassin are a slap on the wrist. Governor Ron DeSantis and the State of Florida have already agreed to take the lead on the investigation and prosecution. LET FLORIDA HANDLE THE CASE!”
The DOJ released a letter written by Ryan Wesley Routh offering $150,000 to anyone who could ‘finish the job’ on President Trump.
The DOJ, which is trying to put Trump in prison, is now offering a bounty on Trump’s head by releasing this.
Why else would they release this? pic.twitter.com/r5u3RFBrIC
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) September 23, 2024