Dec. 15, 2025
The top 10 Crime and Justice Stories of the Year - #9 DONALD TRUMP - "TWO BULLETS, 1,500 PARDONS & THE MAN THEY COULDN'T KILL
Reid Carter examines how Donald Trump survived two assassination attempts in 2024 and reshaped American justice in 2025. July 13, 2024: Thomas Crooks fired eight shots at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally - bullet grazed Trump's ear, killed firefighter Corey Comperatore who dove on his family. September 15, 2024: Ryan Routh waited nearly twelve hours at Trump's Florida golf course before Secret Service spotted him. Routh convicted September 2025, tried to stab himself after verdict. Then Trump took office and pardoned nearly 1,500 January 6 defendants on Day One - including people convicted of assaulting police officers. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned. FBI says Crooks' motive remains unknown.
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Callarogu Shark Media. Good morning, I'm read Carter. Today is Monday,
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December fifteenth, twenty twenty five. We're counting down the top
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ten crime and justice stories of twenty twenty five. Yesterday
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Karen Reid Today number nine Donald Trump. Love him or
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hate him, and believe me? People feel strongly both ways.
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No one dominated crime headlines in twenty twenty five quite
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like the forty seventh president. Two assassination attempts, survived Secret
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Service in chaos, and on his first day back in office,
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he pardoned nearly one thousand, five hundred people convicted of
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storming the United States Capital. July thirteenth, twenty twenty four, Butler,
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Pennsylvania campaign rally. Trump is showing a chart of border
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crossing numbers. When shots ring out, Bang bang, bang, eight
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shots to an AR fifteen style rifle fired from a
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rooftop one hundred thirty yards away. Trump grabs his ear,
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goes down behind the podium. Secret Service agents pile on
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top of him. When he stands back up, blood streaming
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down his face, he pumps his fist at the crowd.
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Fight Fight, Fight the shooter. Thomas Matthew Crooks, twenty years old,
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from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, shot and killed by Secret Service
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counter snipers twelve seconds after he started firing motive. The
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FBI investigated for sixteen months, interviewed over one thousand people,
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served more than one hundred subpoenas. Conclusion, they don't know
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crooks acted alone and his reasons. Died with him. But
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here's what didn't die. Corey Comparatore, fifty years old, volunteer firefighter,
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former fire chief of Buffalo Township at the rally with
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his wife and daughter. When the shots started, he threw
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himself on top of his family, shielded them with his body,
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took a bullet, died a hero. Two months later. September fifteenth,
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twenty twenty four, Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach.
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Trump is playing golf. A Secret Service agent scanning ahead
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spots a face in the bushes, then a rifle barrel
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pointing through the fence. The agent fires four shots. The
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man in the bushes drops his weapon and runs. Ryan
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Wesley Routh, fifty eight years old at the time, had
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been hiding in the shrubbery for nearly twelve hours waiting
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for Trump to come into range. Never fired a shot.
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Arrested on I ninety five. Fleeing the scene, left behind
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a loaded SKS rifle, body armour plates, and a letter
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that read, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump,
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but I am so sorry I failed you. September twenty
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twenty five, Routh convicted on all five federal charges attempted
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assassination of a presidential candidate, faces life in prison. Tried
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to stab himself in the neck with a pen after
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the verdict was read. Two attempts on one man's life
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in sixty three days. Then that man became president, and
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on January twentieth, twenty twenty five, his first day in office,
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he pardoned almost everyone convicted of January sixth. I'm reed, Carter,
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this is celebrity trials today, Donald Trump, the assassination attempts,
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the pardons, the man who never stopped making headlines number
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nine of ten. Let me paint you the picture. July thirteenth,
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twenty twenty four, Saturday evening, Butler Farm show Grounds in
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Conoquinessing Township, Pennsylvania, small town about thirty miles north of Pittsburgh,
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thousands of people gathered for a Trump campaign rally. Hot
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summer day, American flags everywhere. Six h two pm. Trump
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takes the stage, starts speaking about immigration, pulls up a
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chart showing border crossing statistics six eleven PM. Nine minutes
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in to the speech, Trump turns to look at the chart.
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That's when Thomas Matthew Crooks, from a rooftop one hundred
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thirty yards away, opens fire eight shots in rapid succession,
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an AR fifteen style rifle his father had purchased legally
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in twenty thirteen and transferred to him. Crooks had practiced
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at a shooting range the day before, bought fifty rounds
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of ammunition and a ladder the morning of the rally.
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One bullet grazed the upper part of Trump's right ear.
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He would have been dead if he hadn't turned his
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head to look at that chart. Millimeters that's what separated
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a wounded ear from an assassination. The Secret Service counter
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sniper team returned fire. Four seconds after Crooks started shooting.
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A Butler County Emergency Services officer shot at him and
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hit his rifle, stopping the attack. Eight seconds after that,
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Secret Service snipers put a bullet through his head. But
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Thomas Crooks wasn't the only casualty. Corey Comparatore fifty years old,
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engineer at a plastics manufacturing company, volunteer fire fighter for
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over twenty years, former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer
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Fire Company. Lived in Sarver, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Helen,
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and their two daughters, Allison and Kaylee, both in their twenties.
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The Compretori family was at the rally together. They'd been
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offered VIP seats in the front bleachers. Corey picked the
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spots himself. When the shooting started, Corey didn't hesitate. He
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yelled get down and threw himself on top of his
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wife and daughter, shielded them with his body. His daughter, Allison,
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was the one he landed on. I was confused for
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a minute, she later told ABC News. I was like,
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why does he feel so heavy? When I looked back,
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I saw him just laying on top of me. Limp.
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Corey Comparatore was shot and killed protecting his family. His
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last word was a command, get down. His wife, Helen,
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held his head as he died. I'll never forget Kaylee's screams,
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she said. She just continued to scream, and of course,
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holding his head. I knew he was already gone, but
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you just beg him to stay. Two other rally attendees
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were wounded. David Dutch fifty seven from New Kensington, Pennsylvania,
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and James Copenhaveer, seventy four from Moon Township both survived.
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Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro called Corey Comparatore a hero. He
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dove on his family to protect them. Corey died a
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hero the way he lived. At the Republican National Convention
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five days later, Trump walked on stage to give his
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acceptance speech, his ear still bandaged. On stage with him
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Corey Comparatore's firefighter turnout coat and helmet a tribute to
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the man who died at his rally. But here's where
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this story gets infuriating. How did Thomas Crooks get on
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that roof? The building belonged to AGR International, a manufacturing
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company adjacent to the rally grounds. It was outside the
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Secret Service perimeter, but had a direct line of sight
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to the stage. Multiple local law enforcement officers reported seeing
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Crooks acting suspiciously as early as an hour before the shooting.
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One officer took a photo of him radioated up the chain.
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Nothing happened. Rally attendees spotted crooks on the roof minutes
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before the shooting. They pointed, they shouted, They tried to
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alert police. Video from the scene shows people gesturing toward
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the rooftop while Trump continued speaking. A local police officer
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was hoisted up to check the roof. He made eye
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contact with Crooks, who was already aiming his rifle. Crooks
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pointed the gun at the officer. The officer lost his
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grip and fell eight feet to the ground. Seconds later,
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Crooks opened fire on Trump. How does this happen? How
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does a twenty year old with an ar fifteen get
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onto a roof overlooking the former president of the United
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States while people are literally pointing and yelling that there's
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a man with a gun. Your tax dollars at work?
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Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheedle testified before Congress nine days later,
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called it the most significant operational failure of the Secret
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Service in decades. But she couldn't answer basic questions. Wouldn't
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say how many agents were assigned to protect Trump, wouldn't
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explain who was responsible for securing that building, wouldn't provide
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a timeline. Bipartisan fury, Republicans and Democrats alike demanded her resignation.
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You're full of shit today, Congresswoman Nancy Mace told her
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during the hearing. The next day, July twenty third, Cheatle resigned,
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and what about Thomas Crooks? Who was he? Why did
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he do it? Twenty years old, recent graduate of Community
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College of Allegheny County with an associate's degree in engineering,
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had been planning to start at Robert Morris University in
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the fall, worked at a nursing home as a dietary aid.
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No criminal record, no documented mental health diagnosis. Classmates described
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him as quiet but not threatening. The FBI spent sixteen
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months investigating. Four hundred and eighty five FBI employees worked
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the case. Over one thousand interviews conducted, more than two
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thousand tips, reviewed, search warrants executed, digital forensics performed on
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multiple devices. In November twenty twenty five, FBI Director Cash
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Patel announced the conclusion Thomas Crooks acted entirely alone and
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his motive remains unknown. They found his search history. How
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far was Oswald from Kennedy? He'd searched a week before
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the rally. He researched Trump's rallies and the Democratic National Convention.
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He searched for the attempted assassination of the Slovakian prime minister,
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but nothing that explained why. No manifesto, no explanation. A
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twenty year old registered Republican who once donated fifteen dollars
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to a Democratic voter turnout group shot at the Republican
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presidential candidate and will never know why. Corey Comparatore was
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fifty years old, father of two, husband of nearly thirty years, firefighter,
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church goer, hero. Should be alive today, should be celebrating
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Christmas with his family. Instead, his widow wears a necklace
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with his fingerprint pressed into it. Rest in peace, Corey,
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someone has to say your name. We'll be right back
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with the second assassination attempt, Ryan Routh twelve hours in
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the bushes and the conviction that ended with a pen
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to the neck, The Florida attempt and Ruth's conviction ten minutes.
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Welcome back to celebrity trials. I'm reed, Carter. Sixty three
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days after Thomas Crooks nearly killed Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania,
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it almost happened again. September fifteenth, twenty twenty four, Sunday,
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Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump
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is playing a round of golf. Secret Service agents are
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stationed around the course, including agents patrolling one hole ahead
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of the former president. One thirty one pm, Secret Service
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agent Robert Ferkano is scanning the sixth hole green when
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he sees something that doesn't belong a face in the bushes,
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then a rifle barrel protruding through the fence. For Kano
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testified at trial that it looked like a textbook ambush scenario.
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The rifle was pointing at him. He got off his
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golf cart, said hey, sir, thinking at first he might
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be encountering a homeless person. Then the gun barrel moved
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toward him. For Kano saw ballistic plates, body armor positioned
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on the fence. This wasn't a homeless person, this was
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a sniper's hide. For Kano, an ex marine and trained marksman,
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fired four shots at the man in the bushes. The
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man dropped his weapon and ran. That man was Ryan
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Wesley Ruth, fifty eight years old at the time. Originally
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from North Carolina, had moved to Hawaii a roofer by trade,
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a self styled mercenary who tried to recruit soldiers to
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fight in Ukraine after Rusha's invasion. Ruth had been hiding
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in the shrubbery since one fifty nine a m. That morning,
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nearly twelve hours, waiting for Trump to come within range.
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Cell Phone records showed he'd been scoping out Trump's golf
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course and mar A Lago residents for weeks, dating back
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to August eighteenth. When Ferkano opened fire, Trump was on
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the fifth hole, about four hundred yards away. Ruth never
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got a shot off. He fled across the road, jumped
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into a black nissanic Sterra, and headed for I ninety five.
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A witness named Tommy McGee was driving to a furniture
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store when he saw a man running out of the
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woods into a black car. McGee took three photos and
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a video of the vehicle, then reported it to police.
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That evidence helped them track Routh down. Less than an
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hour later, Martin County Sheriff's deputies pulled Ruth over on
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I ninety five. He was arrested without incident. What they
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found at the scene a loaded s K S style
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rifle with a scope attached. The safety was off, a
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round was chambered, a magazine with nineteen additional rounds of ammunition,
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steel body armor plates, a go pro camera, attached to
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the fence, pointing toward where Trump would have been in
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Ruth's car, multiple cell phones, stolen license plates, directions to
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Miami International Airport, a list of flights to Mexico and
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Columbia leaving that afternoon, and evening notes with aliases. This
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wasn't a spontaneous act. This was a carefully planned assassination
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attempt with an escape route mapped out. And then there
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was the letter. Months before the attempt, Routh had dropped
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off a box at a witness's house. Inside was a
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handwritten note addressed dear world. It read, this was an
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assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I am so sorry
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I failed you. He'd written his confession before he even tried.
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Ruth had a criminal record going back decades, over one
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hundred criminal counts before twenty twenty four, mostly receiving probation
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or parole. In two thousand and two, he'd barricaded himself
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inside his roofing business with a fully automatic machine gun
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after a traffic stop. Convicted of possessing a weapon of
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mass destruction, still walked free. A travel nurse named Chelsea
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Walsh had met Ruth in Ukraine and warned the FBI
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about him in twenty twenty three, called him a threat
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to others and a ticking time bomb. She reported him
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to both the FBI and Interpol. Nothing happened. The trial
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began in September twenty twenty five in Fort Pierce, Florida,
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before US District Judge Aleen Cannon Routh made the bizarre
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choice to represent himself. The same woman who'd dismissed the
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classified document's case against Trump was now presiding over the
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trial of the man who'd tried to kill him. Federal
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prosecutors spent seven days presenting their case, thirty eight witnesses,
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hundreds of pieces of evidence, cell phone records tracking Ruth's movements,
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valence footage, DNA on the rifle and gloves, the letter
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confessing to the attempt before it happened. Ruth's defense lasted
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three hours. He called three witnesses, a firearms expert, and
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two character witnesses who admitted they hadn't spoken to him
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in years. He didn't take the stand. In his closing argument,
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Ruth tried to argue that because he never fired a shot,
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no crime occurred. It's hard for me to believe that
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a crime occurred if the trigger was never pulled, he
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told the jury. The jury deliberated for two and a
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half hours. September twenty third, twenty twenty five, guilty on
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all five counts attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate,
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possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence,
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