Former AG Barr Rips Justice for Releasing Attempted Trump Shooter Note

Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr criticized the Justice Department for releasing the letter written by Ryan Wesley Routh, the man who allegedly attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his golf club last week.

Routh allegedly pointed a rifle through the tree line on Sept. 15 while the former president was playing golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to a criminal complaint. He has not yet entered a plea.

In a court filing released before the hearing, prosecutors said that several months prior to the incident, Routh dropped off a handwritten letter addressed to "the world" that offered a bounty on Trump.

"This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you," the suspect wrote, according to the filing. "I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job."

Barr said he was "dumbfounded” the Department of Justice would make the content of the letter public.

"There was no apparent justification for releasing this information at this stage," Barr told Fox News Digital. "DOJ had more than enough evidence to have Routh detained pending trial, without publicizing these details. 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. It served no purpose other than to risk inciting further violence," he added.

The letter was found in a box handed over by an unidentified civilian witness that also included ammunition, a metal pipe and four phones, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also said that when Routh was arrested, his car contained a handwritten list of dates in August, September and October of places where Trump had appeared or was expected to appear. They said a search of his cellphone records showed that the devices had pinged towers near the Trump International Golf Club, where the incident took place and by the Mar-a-Lago resort where Trump lives.

Routh has been charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

A U.S. Secret Service agent spotted the weapon and fired in Routh's direction, causing the suspect to flee, according to the complaint. Routh was later arrested along a Florida highway.

This is the second assassination attempt against Trump. Two months ago, another gunman wounded Trump on the ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. That gunman was shot and killed by the Secret Service.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.