(Ken Silva, Headline USA) In its ongoing case against alleged would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh, the Justice Department filed a motion on Monday that not even Routh’s attorneys are allowed to see.
The DOJ’s sealed, ex parte motion was filed pursuant to the Classified Information Procedures Act, which allows the U.S. government to keep state secrets just that: secret—even if it negatively impacts the rights of a defendant. The government’s motion seeks to keep some evidence under wraps, apparently because it’s classified.
In the Fla. attempted Trump assassination case, Trump's DOJ just filed a sealed motion that not even Routh's attorneys are allowed to see 🤔 pic.twitter.com/ytsGMr5puS
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) April 7, 2025
The DOJ hasn’t signaled what evidence could be classified in Routh’s case, but it could pertain to his travels to Ukraine and connections to the U.S. intelligence community. Routh was recruiting fighters to go to Ukraine up to within days of his alleged Sept. 15 assassination attempt.
Routh is set to stand trial in September. His case is at least the second Trump assassination case to involve classified information.
In December, the DOJ filed a similar motion to keep classified information secret in the case of Asif Merchant, the Pakistani man who allegedly tried hiring two hitmen in an Iranian-sponsored assassination plot against Trump.
As Headline USA has detailed, the notion that Iran conspired to assassinate Trump is highly dubious. In the Merchant case, the two hitmen he attempted to hire were undercover FBI agents introduced to him by one of their informants. Merchant appears to have been an unwitting dupe in an FBI sting operation.
However, the evidence that would prove whether Merchant was a legitimate assassin or an FBI patsy may never see the light of day, thanks to CIPA.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
