Failed DONALD TRUMP Assassin Sentenced to Life in Prison

Fifty-nine-year-old RYAN ROUTH has been sentenced to life in prison in the United States for a failed plot to assassinate President DONALD TRUMP at his Florida golf course in September 2024. The incident in Florida was the second attempt on Trump's life in 2024, after a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. ROUTH was sentenced on Wednesday, February 4, 2026, after he was convicted in September 2025 of trying to kill then-candidate TRUMP, two months before his second term election victory. Judge AILEEN CANNON handed down the life sentence, plus seven years after a ninety-minute hearing, saying it was to protect the public from future crime committed by ROUTH. Judge Cannon said ROUTH's crimes "undeniably warrant a life sentence". "[H]e 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," she wrote. However, ROUTH's lawyer, MARTIN ROSS, said they would be appealing the case, after the convicted had pleaded not guilty and elected to represent himself during the trial, which began on September 8, 2025. The native of North Carolina who lived in Hawaii prior to his arrest, repeatedly acted erratically during the court proceedings, including challenging TRUMP to a game of golf and making references to ADOLF HITLER and Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN. After a jury found him guilty, ROUTH attempted to stab himself in the neck with a pen before US marshals quickly escorted him out of the courtroom. In his closing statement during the trial, ROUTH spoke in the third person and touched on a wide variety of unrelated topics, including US history, the Russia-Ukraine war and his intention to buy a boat - prompting the judge to repeatedly interrupt him and send the jury away.