Judge releases letter from would-be Trump assassin offering himself up for prisoner swap with Hamas

President Trump’s would-be assassin, Ryan Routh, begged a federal judge to allow him to “freeze to death In Siberia” as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia in a bizarre letter last month where he also offered himself up to Hamas and other US adversaries. 

Routh, who is currently locked up in a Miami federal prison as he awaits trial on the attempted assassination of Trump on his Palm Beach, Fla., golf course last September, bemoaned that he won’t face the death penalty if convicted before asking Judge Aileen Cannon to “trade me away” in the unhinged jailhouse letter, released Friday.  

“[W]hy is the death penalty not allowed, at nearly 60 a life of nothingness without love – what is the point,” Routh wrote in the June 29 letter to the judge overseeing his case. “Why is it not all or nothing?” 

Routh, 59, noted that he had previously demanded to be included in a prisoner swap but never heard back, and asked Cannon to consider his loony request. 

“I had wished for a prisoner swap with Hamas, Iran for a female protestor, or China for Jimmy Lai or one of the 40 others or to freeze to death in Siberia in exchange for a Ukrainian soldier so that I could die being of some use and save all this court mess – but no one acts,” he grumbled. 

“Perhaps you have the power to trade me away,” Routh wrote. “What an easy diplomatic vitory [sic] for Trump to give an American he hates to China, Iran or North Korea or wherever as a gesture of peace in exchange for an unjustly held democratic prisoner – everyone wins.” 

In the rambling letter, Routh also informs Cannon that he will be representing himself in court moving forward, while slamming his lawyers. 

“it was ridiculous from the outset to consider a random stranger that knows nothing of who I am to speak for me,” he wrote. “That was foolish and ignorant, and I am sorry – a childish mistake.”

“I had thought these attorneys really wanted this case towards preserving democracy and freedom, but no, perhaps I was not the man they had wished for, and now we are a million miles apart,” Routh said. 

“I no longer want to listen to how horrible a person I am – I can beat my own self-up; I do not need help,” he continued, accusing his lawyers of “selling hard to my daughter that I a peice of s**t [sic].” 

“Best I walk alone.” 

“On that topic of character, that my attorneys said we shall never tread, I am of the thought – what else is there if we do not have any character, morals, ethics, any substance at all, why live, why argue anything,” the would-be assassin rambled. 

Prosecutors have said Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as the then-Republican presidential nominee played golf on Sept. 15, 2024. 

Before Trump came into view, Routh was spotted by a Secret Service agent. Routh allegedly aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot.

Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who prosecutors said informed officers that he saw a person fleeing.

The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested and the witnesses confirmed it was the person he had seen, prosecutors have said.

Routh faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.