News: Chilling new details on the Trump assassination plot

Monday, September 23, 2024

Chilling new details on the Trump assassination plot

Sep 23, 2024

Presented by

THE CATCH-UP

Prosecutors say Ryan Routh made explicit in a letter that he was trying to assassinate Donald Trump. | Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

HOW CLOSE WE CAME — A new prosecutorial filing this morning revealed disturbing new details about the actions of RYAN ROUTH, the man accused of seeking to assassinate DONALD TRUMP at his golf course last weekend, Kimberly Leonard and Josh Gerstein report from West Palm Beach, Florida.

In a pre-written letter Routh allegedly addressed to “The World,” he made explicit that he was trying to assassinate Trump, and asked for someone else to succeed where he predicted he’d fail, offering “$150,000 to whomever can complete the job,” according to prosecutors.

The letter also blasts Trump for lacking “the moral fabric that is America,” and specifically takes the former president to task over his Iran policy, blaming him for the chaos in the Middle East. Routh allegedly placed the missive at a friend’s house months ago.

Prosecutors also alleged in the filing that bags found near Routh’s position contained protective ballistic plates. They said his vehicle contained several cellphones, including one with information about traveling from Florida to Mexico, and a notebook with information about joining Ukraine in the war to repel Russia. Read the filing, with photos

If true, the new details cast Routh’s motives as clearly political and ideological, unlike the murkier backstory for previous would-be assassin THOMAS CROOKS — though both share a sometimes erratic history and interest in violence. And they lend chilling new texture to the worst paroxysm of political violence to afflict the top echelons of American politics in decades.

The specter of violence is just one of several ongoing threats to the election, Justice Department officials told Senate Democratic committee chairs in a new letter scooped by Jordain Carney. Assistant AG CARLOS URIARTE that the DOJ and FBI are also working to protect voting rights, uphold the rule of law and prevent foreign meddling in the election. The latter will be the subject of an all-senators briefing Wednesday.

MEGATREND — New FBI data shows that violent crime in America ticked down 3 percent in 2023, per NBC’s Ryan Reilly and Ken Dilanian. Property crime fell 2 percent. For some of the worst crimes, the declines were starker: murders down 12 percent, rapes down 9 percent. (On the flip side, motor vehicle thefts and shoplifting were on the rise.) Other federal statistics have indicated that the improvements have likely continued this year. The new numbers are just the latest to run counter to the image of out-of-control crime that Republicans are trying to paint.

Related: The Police Leaders for Community Safety endorsed VP KAMALA HARRIS, Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser scooped.

UP FOR DEBATE — As Sen. JD VANCE (R-Ohio) prepares for the VP debate, House Majority Whip TOM EMMER (R-Minn.) is standing in for Minnesota Gov. TIM WALZ, NYT’s Michael Bender scooped. JASON MILLER and USHA VANCE are also closely involved in the prep work, NBC’s Henry Gomez reports.

SURVEY SAYS — Harris got a great Wisconsin poll from Wisconsin Watch/MassINC, which find her leading by 7 points. But there’s better news for Trump in Minnesota, where the Minnesota Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11 have Harris ahead by just 5, smaller than JOE BIDEN’s margin in 2020.

SPOILER ALERT — ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. today asked the Supreme Court today to intervene and restore him to the ballot in New York, even as he tries to scrub his name in other states. More from The Hill

Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Boeing’s D.C. office has temporarily stopped paying the vast majority of its lobbying firms and is cutting back on its political donations as the company confronts a cash crisis during a major strike, Daniel Lippman reports.

The company uses more than a dozen lobbying firms, including Avoq, Crossroads Strategies, Monument Advocacy, S-3 Group and Squire Patton Boggs, as well as firms run by former Reps. DICK GEPHARDT (D-Mo.) and NORM DICKS (D-Wash.). Boeing has stopped most of the contracts with these firms for the foreseeable future to conserve cash, according to a Boeing spokesperson. The spokesperson declined to comment when asked if the company expects to resume payments to the firms when the strike is over.

Boeing, which hasn’t made a profit in years, will still disburse some donations from its PAC, which is entirely employee-funded. It’s also doing rolling furloughs of many of its corporate and non-striking employees, which will affect employees in the D.C. office as well. Boeing’s CEO and its executive team, which includes ZIAD OJAKLI, EVP of government operations, are taking a temporary pay cut as well.

A message from Instagram:

Introducing Instagram Teen Accounts: a new experience for teens, guided by parents.

Starting in September, Instagram is launching Teen Accounts with built-in protections limiting who can contact teens and the content they can see. Plus, only parents can approve safety setting changes for teens under 16.

So parents can have more peace of mind when it comes to protecting their teens.

Learn more.

6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo testifies on the Department of Commerce's proposed fiscal year 2023 budget before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies on Capitol Hill May 11, 2022. (Francis Chung/E&E News/POLITICO via AP Images)

A new proposed ban from Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo would block Chinese tech in internet-connected cars. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

1. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: The Commerce Department today unveiled a significant new proposed ban on Chinese and Russian software being used in vehicles that are linked to the internet. It’s “most likely the last major cutoff of Chinese products into the United States under the Biden administration,” NYT’s David Sanger and Madeleine Ngo report, and it’s a forward-looking one focused on cars of the future. U.S. officials said the move was important for national security reasons — preventing Chinese spying or access into critical infrastructure networks. Growing restrictions on China often have bipartisan support, though some experts think they’ve gone too far.

Related read: “U.S. Research Aided Chinese Military Technology, House Republicans Say,” by NYT’s Ana Swanson

2. ANOTHER FLIP-FLOP? Harris’ campaign wouldn’t tell Axios’ Alex Thompson and Stef Kight whether she still plans to take executive action to give 2 million Dreamers a path to citizenship, as she pledged in 2019. That was one of several unilateral moves she dangled at the time to protect undocumented immigrants, especially those brought to the U.S. as children. But now her campaign will only tout support for Dreamers in fairly vague terms. Immigration, of course, is perhaps the principal issue on which Democrats have moved significantly to the right during the Biden administration.

3. SCOTUS WATCH: “Supreme Court’s Gun Rulings Leave Baffled Judges Asking for Help,” by NYT’s Adam Liptak: “Federal appeals courts were busy this summer trying to make sense of the Supreme Court’s recent Second Amendment decisions. It has not gone well. … [One law professor said] the justices were likely to return to the fray, and soon. … Looking for historical analogies to modern gun control laws, as required by Justice [CLARENCE] THOMAS’s 2022 majority opinion in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, can yield surprising results.”

A message from Instagram:

4. HOW TRUMP WINS: The New Yorker’s Andrew Marantz has a deep dive into the leftists, Arab Americans and Muslims furious about the Israel-Hamas war and threatening to abandon Harris in Michigan. “The D.C. bigwigs I talk to are in total denial about how pissed off people are,” former Rep. ANDY LEVIN warned earlier this year. Among the voters who opted for “uncommitted” as a protest vote in the Democratic primary, many are now insisting that they’ll go for JILL STEIN, CORNEL WEST or even Trump in November — despite the risk of installing a more pro-Israel Trump administration — unless Harris seriously changes course.

Meanwhile, Republicans are homing in on a group of 200,000 to 500,000 low-propensity conservative-leaning voters in Michigan, hoping a targeted ground game can turn out this crucial, infrequently voting group, The Detroit News’ Craig Mauger reports.

5. NUTS AND BOLTS: “Black Operatives Are Furious Over How Kamala Harris’ Campaign Is Spending Money,” by NOTUS’ Jasmine Wright and Nuha Dolby: “Democrats are worried about the backslide they appear to be having with some Black voters, and Black vendors and their allies see an obvious solution: spend more money with the political class who actually know the most about that constituency and can adeptly tell Harris’ story. But minority vendors and media companies believe the Harris campaign is taking operatives of color for granted, and failing to spread around the lucrative contracts white-owned firms are getting.”

6. HMM … “Melania Trump was paid for a rare appearance at a political event. It’s not clear who cut the unusual six-figure check,” by CNN’s Pamela Brown, Jeremy Herb and Shoshana Dubnow: “Trump’s latest disclosure form said MELANIA TRUMP was paid [$237,500] by the Log Cabin Republicans for the April fundraiser. But it’s a mystery who actually cut the check: CHARLES MORAN, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, told CNN earlier this month the group did not put up the money for her to speak, and the disclosure form did not give any more information about the source of the payment.”

Sponsored Survey

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: Please take a 1-minute survey about one of our advertising partners.

PLAYBOOKERS

Alexander Stubb called on Joe Biden to let Ukraine strike deeper inside Russia.

LaMonica McIver will be sworn in this evening as the newest member of Congress.

Jack Burkman is not Mark Robinson’s new campaign manager.

Kamala Harris opposed Kimberly Guilfoyle’s hiring a quarter-century ago, her old boss recalls.

Melania Trump will have her first interview of the cycle on Fox News this week.

IN MEMORIAM — “Tongsun Park, Lobbyist Scarred by Koreagate Scandal, Dies at 89,” by NYT’s Trip Gabriel: He was “an urbane, amiable international lobbyist who stood at the center of two bribery scandals separated by nearly 30 years, and who was once a Gatsby-like figure in Washington whose flamboyant parties were attended by lawmakers, officials and the occasional Hollywood celebrity.”

MEDIA MOVES — Sarah Ferris is now a reporter at CNN covering Capitol Hill. She previously was a senior congressional reporter at POLITICO. … Devlin Barrett will join the NYT to cover the Justice Department and law enforcement. He previously has covered national security, law enforcement and the Trump trials at WaPo, where he’s won multiple Pulitzers.

TRANSITIONS — Lauren French is now acting spokesperson and director of comms for U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield. She previously was a senior adviser for the State Department’s Bureau of Global Public Affairs, and is an Adam Schiff and POLITICO alum. … The American Council of Engineering Companies has added Jordan Baugh as VP for water and environment and Bradley Saull as VP for federal and international programs. Baugh previously worked for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Saull is a Professional Services Council alum. … Eamonn Moran is now a partner on Holland & Knight’s financial services team. He previously was a senior counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright, and is a CFPB and Treasury alum.

ENGAGED — Josh Leonard, senior manager of legislative affairs at Associated Builders and Contractors, proposed to Lauren Stimpert, senior counsel on the House Judiciary Committee for Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), at sunset Saturday in Charleston, South Carolina. They were set up by their mutual best friends at a Masters watch party in D.C. The ring

Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.

Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.