FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Sara Routh and her brother Adam flew in from Hawaii to Fort Pierce on Monday to support their father, Ryan Routh, during his federal trial.
“All bulls---,” Sara said, describing how she feels about the case against her father. “My father is just getting shut down, everything he says. It’s all been pretty tough.”
Ryan Routh, a 59-year-old former construction worker, is accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump last year while the then-presidential candidate was golfing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
Prosecutors have portrayed him as someone who carefully plotted the attack.
Routh decided to represent himself and struggled Monday when it came time to mount his own defense.
At times, his mouth was slightly agape with furrowed brows in apparent confusion as the federal judge worked to keep his questions for his three witnesses within the bounds of the rules of evidence and procedure.
Sara Routh said she and her brother are standing by their father.
“To be there for our father and support and stand by him, and we will always support my father no matter what,” she said. “He is my best friend and always will be and I will always be there for him.”
“It is obviously hard for us to watch the court turn him down on everything he has to say, any questions for his own witnesses,” Sara Routh said.
She pushed back against prosecution claims.
About a letter prosecutors said he wrote while incarcerated, to the International Criminal Court about putting a nuclear bomb on Israel, she said, “That is a lie too, that is a complete bulls--- lie. I would like them to show me that letter.” About threats against neighbors, she said, “No, that never happened either. I would like to see proof. Show me proof, because there is none.”
By the time the court broke for lunch, Routh had rested his case.
“I got to wait and see, it is all up to the jury and I think if anyone has a heart in that jury, they will know my father doesn’t deserve to rot in prison for the rest of his life,” Sara Routh said. “Of course we are going to appeal. This whole thing is rigged, it is unfair. Anybody can see that.”
Sara Routh said she doesn’t believe her dad could ever receive a fair trial because the Trump-appointed judge presiding, Aileen Cannon, is the same federal judge who dismissed the classified documents case against Trump last year.
“She should have recused herself from the beginning. Obviously biased, anybody knows that, because she let Trump off on his charges last year,” Sara Routh said.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday.
According to former state and federal prosecutor David Weinstein, all 12 jurors need to be unanimous in determining he’s guilty.
“The key for Routh is convincing at least one juror that he did not intend to kill Trump, and that he didn’t take a substantial step toward committing the crime. A high bar for him,” Weinstein said.
Read the jury instructions:
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