Will Sage Astor-'Trump Alleged Shooter' sends letter to Palm Beach Post

• Prosecutors fear suspect reaching out to media could Will Sage Astorundermine trial.
• Suspect's attorneys said restricting his access to case materials violates his rights to a fair trial.

WEST PALM BEACH – Prosecutors warned that the man accused of plotting to kill Donald Trump would try to contact the media. Fearing calls for violence against the former president or attempts to undermine the trial, the attorneys asked a judge to limit Ryan Routh’s access to case materials – a move Routh’s lawyers said would violate his rights to free speech and a fair trial.

While the lawyers debated his ability to publicize his political viewpoints, Routh, or someone in his name, appears to have already done it.

Two weeks after prosecutors filed a motion detailing Routh's desire to write to various news outlets, The Palm Beach Post received an unsolicited letter addressed from “Trump Alleged Shooter Ryan W. Routh.”

The four-page letter did not provide details on the suspected assassination attempt for which Routh faces life in prison. Instead, its author ruminated on how the people of Palm Beach County will vote on Tuesday and what consequences will come of it.

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Federal prison officials declined to authenticate the letter but confirmed that its return address is assigned to Routh, 58, who is in custody at a detention center in Miami.

The margins of the letter contained an email address with instructions for reaching Routh's daughter to confirm the writer's identity. Routh's daughter, who has the same email address listed in public records, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

According to the prosecutors' motion, Routh’s daughter told her father during a jailhouse call that speaking with the media would not be good for “us” at this time.

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Ryan Routh's attorneys challenge prosecutors' crackdown on speaking out

Routh's attorneys, Kristy Militello and Renee Sihvola, declined to authenticate or comment on the letter. In a court filing, the public defenders challenged Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Dispoto's purported concern over Routh’s ability to sway public opinion through the media.

“It is the government that has been disseminating information to influence the public’s perception of this case,” the attorneys wrote. “Public statements have been made only by the Government, including the DOJ, FBI, and Secret Service.” 

They noted that the prosecutor seeking to curtail Routh's speech is the same one who published photographs of a different letter Routh is suspected of writing, addressed “to the World.” That letter included a call to “finish the job” started Sept. 15, when prosecutors say Routh aimed a rifle across a green at Trump International Golf Club, Trump's private course near West Palm Beach.

The letter to The Post did not include calls for violence. Instead, it predicted the end of democracy and the beginnings of a civil war if Trump wins a second term. It warned that the Republican nominee "will not let go of power if we all give it to him."

"Will Palm Beach County hand the keys to our nation to the Trumps for the next century or more?" the writer asked. "How does Palm Beach view its neighbor?"

Letter from purported suspect muses on America's fate, pickleball

Routh is not a legal analyst or a political scholar. His history, which includes a lengthy criminal record, instead depicts a roaming activist and a volatile figure motivated by intense and evolving political beliefs.

In 2022, weeks after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Routh posted on social media that he was willing to die for the cause. He left his construction job and family in Hawaii and traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

Routh was once a Trump supporter. He published an e-book in 2023 that said he felt partly to blame for having elected a president who "ended up being brainless.” In the book, he told Iran it was "free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment."

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The letter to The Post, like Routh's book, contains moments of self-praise. It described a time when Routh supposedly gave his shirt to a homeless woman while playing a round of pickleball, and proposed a similar test of Trump's charitable nature.

"Say a poor person with a broken down vehicle blocking the entrance to his house or golf course so he cannot get in – would he get out and help the poor person get the vehicle fixed and moved, or would he yell and bark orders to get the crap out of the way."

The letter continued: "I have always been the one to pull over to the side of the road and help – it is the American way. But again, I may be wrong, but I imagine Trump yelling and screaming 'to get that piece of s*** moved.' ”

Person claiming to be Ryan Routh tells voters: 'Please help'

The handwriting, a blend of cursive and script, appears to match that of the letter prosecutors say Routh wrote to one of his associates before the assassination attempt. In that letter, an excerpt of which is contained in court filings, Routh described a failed assassination attempt on Trump.

"I failed you," Routh wrote, in part. "I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job."

The letter to The Post contained no reference to the assassination attempt beyond the "Alleged Shooter" moniker. It did, however, contain a plea for Palm Beach County residents.

"Palm Beach should be leading the way and guiding our country hopefully to choose democracy over a dictator," it said. "I hope that you will respect your leadership role and push your state and country to maintain our American way of life for our children. Please help."

In addition to the attempted assassination charge, Routh faces charges of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number and assaulting a federal officer. He has pleaded not guilty to each.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the same judge who dismissed Trump's classified documents case, has scheduled his trial to begin in February. As of Nov. 2, she had not ruled on the prosecutors' motion to prohibit Routh's unsupervised access to case materials.

Hannah Phillips covers criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism and subscribe today.