The man who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump at a Florida golf course during the 2024 presidential campaign may never step outside of a federal prison after Wednesday.

Ryan Routh, 59, will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon for plotting to shoot Trump while he golfed at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September 2024. Routh was convicted in September 2025 of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.

The Justice Department has requested that Routh be sentenced to life in prison.

“Routh’s crimes undeniably warrant a life sentence—he took steps over the course of months to assassinate a major Presidential candidate, demonstrated the will to kill anybody in the way, and has since expressed neither regret nor remorse to his victims,” the department wrote in a January sentencing memo. “The Constitution affords citizens many peaceful avenues to oppose or express strong dissent about a Presidential candidate—murder is not one of them.”

The attempted assassination took place on September 15, 2024, after weeks of planning when Routh was spotted by Secret Service Special Agent Robert Fercano embedded in a hedge near the sixth hole of the golf course with a rifle. Fercano opened fire on Routh, who fled the scene, leaving behind an SKS-style rifle with scope, an extra magazine with 19 rounds of ammo, steel armor plates, and a camera.

Justice Department.

Routh fled the scene in a black Nissan Xterra before he was arrested by officers with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, heading north on Interstate-95. Inside the vehicle, officers found multiple cell phones and a list of flights out of the country. A search of cell phone records found that they had pinged near the golf course and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home multiple times from August 18 to September 15, 2024. Investigators also said that one of the phones had searched how to drive from Palm Beach County to Mexico.

Another list contained dates and venues where Trump was set to appear and a notebook that contained ramblings about how to fight on behalf of Ukraine. Routh was also the apparent author of a book called “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen-Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea, WWIII and the End of Humanity.”

Routh wrote in the book that he “must take part of the blame for the [person] that we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless, but I am man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake and Iran I apologize. You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of the deal. No one here in the US seems to have the balls to put natural selection to work or even unnatural selection.”

According to another filing from the Justice Department, Routh communicated with a person he believed to be a Ukrainian with access to military-grade weapons and requested a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), lamenting that then-presidential nominee Donald Trump “is not good for Ukraine.”

Over a year before the assassination attempt, Routh was quoted in The New York Times talking about recruiting foreigners to fight for Ukraine.

Routh detained in Florida: Photo by Martin County Sheriff’s Office / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images.

The FBI also obtained a letter from Routh that was delivered in a box to a civilian witness.

“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” Routh wrote. “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 also attacked Trump for ending “relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has unraveled.”

The would-be assassin was also convicted in September of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Routh had previous convictions in 2002 for possession of a weapon of mass destruction and in 2010 for multiple counts of possession of stolen goods.

As the verdict was delivered, Routh attempted to stab himself in the neck with a pen, prompting law enforcement to restrain and shackle him. Routh has argued that his charges should not be enhanced with federal terrorism classifications. The Justice Department says he is a threat to American society.

“Routh is also a threat to the public collectively,” the Justice Department said in its sentencing memo. “He attempted to prevent the American people from exercising their right to elect the President of their choosing, by killing one of the two major candidates in the 2024 Presidential election. His conduct jeopardized the democratic process as well as multiple human lives.”

Cannon, the judge who will sentence Routh, was appointed by Trump. She previously dismissed the classified documents case against Trump, saying that special counsel Jack Smith was appointed unconstitutionally to oversee the case.

President Donald Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro held face-to-face talks at the White House on Tuesday following a year of frayed relations.

The meeting was the first between a South American head of state and Trump following the January 3 U.S. raid in Caracas that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. 

Unlike most of Trump’s meetings with heads of state this past year, this meeting was closed to the press. Photos released by the White House and Petro show Vice President JD Vance also attended the meeting. 

At a separate event on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that he “got along very well” with Petro.

“He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I was never insulted because I never met him at all,” he said. “We get along great.”

President Trump said he got along “very well” with Colombian President Gustavo Petro during their meeting today, despite months of insults.

“He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I was never insulted because I never met him at all,” Trump said. pic.twitter.com/ETtljfwklz

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) February 3, 2026

After the meeting, Petro posted a photo of a certificate folder featuring an image of the two leaders on one side and, on the other, a note signed by Trump that read, “Gustavo — A great honor,” and “I love Colombia.”

“Gustavo: Un gran Honor.
Amor a Colombia”. Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/1Tl7eIbAPr

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 3, 2026

In a separate post, Petro shared that Trump had given him an autographed copy of Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal.”

Petro spoke about the meeting in a press conference shortly after, describing his meeting with Trump as “positive.”

Petro said the president also gave him a red Make America Great Again hat, adding that he and the president share a pact “for life.”

A day after the capture of Maduro, Trump said that Colombia is “very sick too” and “run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.” He added that Petro is “not going to be doing it for very long.” Asked whether U.S. forces might operate in Colombia as well, Trump responded, “Sounds good to me!”

Petro responded to the U.S. raid, calling it an “assault on sovereignty” and an “illegal kidnapping.” In a later post, he implied that he would take up arms if the U.S. military intervened in his country.

“I swore not to touch another weapon since the 1989 peace agreement, but for the sake of the homeland, I will take up arms again, even though I don’t want to,” Petro, who is a former Marxist revolutionary, posted on X.

A few days later, Trump posted that he received a call from Petro, claiming he “appreciated his call and tone.”

“It was a Great Honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” Trump said, adding that they were planning a visit to the White House by Petro.

On Monday, Trump signaled the primary topic in the meeting would be about the “tremendous amount of drugs” being trafficked from Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine.

He added that Petro has become “very nice” after the U.S. arrested Maduro.

“He changed his attitude very much,” Trump said.

Petro is term-limited and set to vacate his office in August.

Relations between the two leaders were already severely strained prior to Maduro’s arrest. 

At the United Nations General Assembly in September, Petro delivered a sharply anti-American address that prompted the U.S. delegation to walk out of the chamber. 

In his speech, Petro accused Trump of complicity in genocide in Gaza and called for criminal charges to be brought against U.S. officials.

“This hall is a mute witness, and an accomplice, to genocide in today’s world. When we believed it was only the property of Hitler, Trump does not speak of democracy, he does not speak of the climate crisis, he does not speak of life – he only threatens, kills, and lets tens of thousands be killed,” Petro said.

Petro went after Trump for authoring drone strikes on boats in the Caribbean that the U.S. government accused of belonging to narco-terrorists who were trafficking narcotics. Petro said the passengers of the boats were only young people fleeing poverty.

“There must be criminal charges opened against those officials of the United States, including the senior official who gave the order – President Trump, who allowed missiles to be fired against young people who simply wanted to escape poverty,” he said.

During the same visit to the United States, Petro also attended an anti-Israel protest, where, according to the U.S. State Department, he encouraged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incited violence. The State Department said it revoked Petro’s visa due to what it described as his “reckless and incendiary actions.”

During the New York City protest, Petro reportedly said, “I ask all the soldiers of the United States’ army, don’t point your rifles against humanity,” and “disobey the orders of Trump.”

Petro responded, claiming he has “immunity to go to the U.N.” and that he is also a European citizen who does not need a visa to travel to the United States.