A note purportedly written by Ryan Wesley Routh, who is accused of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump on September 15, was released on Monday by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a public court filing.
According to the court filing, Routh asked an associate to keep a box of his belongings. After the attack, the associate opened the box and discovered the letter, wherein prosecutors claim Routh confirmed his intent to assassinate Trump and offered a $150,000 bounty should someone prove successful.
The letter was released publicly in this manner despite the FBI, which is the primary investigative branch of the DOJ, previously “strongly” advising Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) against the release of “legacy tokens” left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who was a biological woman but identified as a transgender man during the attack where she claimed the lives of six.
The Tennessee Star obtained a portion of MNPD documents related to the Covenant investigation earlier this year, including a May 11, 2023 FBI memo to MNPD that referenced “legacy tokens” and warned their release could lead to unintended consequences.
“Mass shootings have been occurring with alarming frequency over the past few decades,” the agency stated. “Offenders of these attacks often leave behind items to claim credit for the attack and / or articulate the motivation behind it.”
The FBI stated in the memo that the agency, “opines that responsible authorities need to take every measure possible” to keep future offenders from accessing legacy tokens.
According to the FBI, allowing the spread of legacy tokens “will contribute to future attacks,” because would-be copycat attackers “will immerse themselves in and study these materials for inspection and tactics,” while “the dispersion of legacy tokens through the media will only further the infamous and notorious goals of the offender, ironically commissioned by the very entities tasked with thwarting these attacks.”
The memo also warned legacy tokens seldom offer an explanation about why a person committed specific acts, and could instead “further permeate the false narrative that the majority of attackers are mentally ill.”
It is also the opinion of the FBI, according to its May 2023 memo, that releasing legacy tokens allows inexperienced or uneducated pundits to provide erroneous commentary.
“Public access to legacy tokens will also facilitate false narratives and inaccurate information,” the agency stated in its memo. “For personal gain, self-professed ‘experts’ will proffer their perspectives on the motivations behind the attack. Many of these pontificators will be inexperienced or untrained, and therefore inaccurate in their assessment, further confusing or potentially inflaming the public.”
The FBI claimed such commentary after a public release “may also lead to unintended consequences for the segment of the population more vulnerable or open to conspiracy theories, which will undoubtedly abound.”
The Star contacted the DOJ to ask whether the guidance expressed in the FBI memo applies to Routh, as law enforcement claims U.S. Secret Service spotted his rifle before he was able to commit any type of attack, whether Routh left other legacy tokens, if the agency is concerned about copycat attacks, and about the agency’s motivation for releasing the letter, but did not receive an immediate response.
Similarly, The Star did not receive an immediate response from the FBI after asking the agency whether the guidance expressed in its legacy tokens memo applies when criminal plots are foiled by law enforcement, whether the DOJ was aware of the FBI guidance, and if the agency has changed its handling legacy tokens since May 2023.
The FBI previously confirmed to The Star that it sends materials like the memo to local law enforcement, but declined to confirm it sent the legacy tokens memo in May 2023.
Conservatives have questioned the decision by the DOJ to include the letter in its court filing, with the president’s eldest son leading the criticism in a post to the social media platform X.
Donald Trump Jr. questioned, “Why is Kamala’s DOJ publicizing Ryan Wesley Routh putting a bounty on my dad’s head???”
He added, “DOJ releasing this in a week but not the trans killer manifesto for months isn’t signaling anything.”
His motives are unknown folks!!!! DOJ releasing this in a week but not the trans killer manifesto for months isn’t signaling anything.
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 23, 2024
Matt Walsh, a pundit and host for The Daily Wire, also compared the federal government’s handling of Routh’s letter to its response to the multiple requests to release the thousands of pages left by Hale.
“They didn’t release the Covenant shooter manifesto because they were allegedly afraid it would inspire more shootings.” Walsh noted, “And yet within a week they release a letter from Trump’s would-be assassin where he openly encourages more shootings and offers to pay for them.”
In a statement posted to Truth Social, the former president stated, “The Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Department of Justice and FBI are mishandling and downplaying the second attempt on my life since July,” and called for Florida to lead the investigation.
Both Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Star, and editor-in-chief Michael Patrick Leahy, are among the plaintiffs who launched a federal lawsuit seeking to compel the FBI to release Hale’s writings. The lawsuit remains ongoing.
Leahy and SNDM similarly sued MNPD in Tennessee to compel the release of Hale’s writings, but Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles ruled issued a ruling on July 4 that declined to release any of the pages, citing the copyright claims of the Covenant Children’s Trust.
SNDM and Leahy have announced their intent to appeal the decision, and Leahy expressed confidence he will win in a higher court.
Earlier this month, The Star published the complete journal left by Hale in her vehicle prior to the attack, which it obtained in June from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
Read the full ‘Legacy Tokens’ memo:
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
