(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh filed a 178-page appeal on Monday, asking to have his conviction overturned on the grounds that he didn’t receive a fair trial.
Routh was the man found hiding in some bushes at Trump’s golf course on Sept. 15, 2024. As Trump was golfing on another hole, a Secret Service agent spotted Routh pointing a rifle at the agent. The agent shot at Routh six times from about five feet away—missing all his shots and causing the would-be assassin to flee the scene. He was caught about 45 minutes later on the I-95 in Martin County. He was arrested, found guilty earlier this year of attempting to assassinate Trump, and sentenced to life in prison.
But according to his appeal, he never received a fair trial.
For starters, the presiding judge was Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, refused to recuse herself. Cannon also cut Routh’s opening and closing statements short, and denied him access to classified information that the government holds about him.
NEW: Would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh has filed a 178-page appeal against his conviction.
Perhaps the most interesting argument is that Judge Aileen Cannon improperly allowed the DOJ to withhold classified information from Routh. Cannon ruled that the disclosure of the… https://t.co/Qn0yFf9ziD pic.twitter.com/aHpFO5Etjz— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) November 12, 2026
“In allowing the government to withhold discovery, the district court erred in failing to consider whether the information would be helpful to the defense. Instead, the court granted the motion based only on findings that the government made a sufficient showing that the information was classified and that its disclosure could cause serious damage or exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States,” Routh’s attorneys argued.
Routh is currently being held at the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colorado—the home of Oklahoma City bombing accomplice Terry Nichols, World Trade Center attacker Ramsey Yousef, and other terrorists.
The DOJ has yet to respond to his appeal.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
