A United States court has sentenced a 59-year-old man, Ryan Routh, to life imprisonment for plotting to assassinate President Donald Trump during the 2024 election campaign.
Routh was convicted in September for attempting to kill Trump at a golf course in Florida in September 2024, barely two months before the presidential election that returned the former president to the White House.
At Wednesday’s sentencing, Judge Aileen Cannon imposed a life sentence with an additional seven years, saying the punishment was necessary to protect the public from further crimes.
According to reports from the courtroom, the judge told the convict that responsibility for his actions rested solely with him, stressing that his conduct posed a grave threat to public safety.
Routh was arrested on September 15, 2024, after a United States Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a rifle protruding from bushes near the perimeter of the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing.
The agent reportedly fired at the suspect, who fled the scene in a vehicle but was later apprehended by security operatives.
The sentencing followed a trial that drew attention after Routh chose to represent himself despite having no legal training.
Court records showed that he made several unusual requests while in custody, including demands for strippers and a golf putting green, as well as a proposal that jurors be selected based on their views on the Gaza conflict and Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland.
The court rejected all the requests.
The foiled attack came just weeks after an earlier assassination attempt on Trump on July 13, 2024, in Pennsylvania, when a gunman opened fire during a campaign rally, grazing Trump’s ear and killing a member of the audience.
That incident, which saw the attacker shot dead by security agents, was widely regarded as a major moment in Trump’s eventual return to power.