Man convicted of trying to assassinate Trump at golf course

US President calls Ryan Routh 'an evil man with an evil intention'

A screengrab from AFPTV on September 16, 2024, shows Ryan Routh. AFP

The man accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump last year at his Florida golf course was found guilty on Tuesday.

A jury found that Ryan Routh, 59, intended to kill Mr Trump, who was Republican presidential candidate at the time, when he pointed a rifle through a fence while Mr Trump was playing golf at the Trump International in West Palm Beach. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

"I would like to thank the judge and jury for their time, professionalism and patience," Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform after the verdict. "This was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him."

Routh fled without firing a shot after a US Secret Service agent patrolling the course saw him with the rifle and opened fire, according to witness testimony.

“This plot was carefully crafted and deadly serious,” prosecutor John Shipley said at the start of the trial, adding that without the intervention of the Secret Service agent, “Donald Trump would not be alive.”

The trial in federal court in Fort Pierce, Florida, unfolded after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which again thrust the growth of political violence in the US to the centre of the national conversation.

Mr Trump was the target in two assassination attempts during his 2024 presidential campaign that returned him to the White House. The other attack wounded him in the ear.

Routh, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges, opted to fire his lawyers and defend himself at trial. He had an erratic life as a roofing contractor and involved himself in pro-democracy movements in Taiwan and Ukraine, where he travelled twice after Russia’s invasion.