Phill Kline, former Kansas Attorney General and current law professor at Liberty University School of Law, described the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) release of a hand-written letter by Ryan Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate former President Trump on September 15, as “deeply concerning.”
In the letter, which the DOJ publicly released on Monday, Routh confirmed his intent to assassinate the former president and offered a $150,000 bounty to whoever could “complete the job.”
Kline said the DOJ’s release of the letter at a time when there’s “no need” and the investigation into the matter is “ongoing,” is “deeply concerning.”
“It is improper, bordering on unethical, and it is wrong. Clearly, they should not be a part of stirring all of this up. Yet they have, and they are. So I think the criticism is warranted,” Kline said on Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Kline noted that while there is “always an effort” for the DOJ to balance fulfilling the public’s request for information and upholding the “integrity of an investigation in public safety,” this specific instance which involves a former president that is an active “target of violence” should not have seen such letter be publicly released.
“There’s always an effort to balance the public need to know as well as the integrity of an investigation in public safety. What is concerning about the Department of Justice’s decision in this case is that the target of the violence is a current presidential candidate,” Kline explained.
Kline also pointed out how the DOJ’s release of the letter comes at a time when the federal department is investigating Trump himself in separate criminal cases and is headed by people who call the former president a “threat.”
“The Department of Justice has been selective in its release of information that might bring it criticism for how it is targeting former President Trump for investigation and prosecution,” Kline explained. “The Department has been non transparent. And suddenly, they get engaged in an effort that deals with the assassination attempts of the former president, a man who the Department of Justice and President Biden and Vice President Harris have been highly critical of, where the party that is in power has addressed him as a threat to all of our fundamental values, that he will impose a dictatorship.”
“They have stirred all of this up and now they have the writings of an individual that puts out a bounty on the president’s head that identifies himself as a hero for carrying out what the left appears to want,” Kline added.
Kline pointed to a poll conducted by Scott Rasmussen’s Napolitan News Institute, which showed that 28 percent of Democrats think that America would have been “better off” if Trump had been assassinated, while another 24 percent of Democrats were “not sure.”
“Twenty eight percent of Democrats in a poll are disappointed that the assassination attempt has failed and believe that the assassination attempt, if successful, would have been better for our country. And suddenly, [the DOJ] is releasing all of this when there’s no need and the investigation is ongoing. It’s deeply concerning,” Kline said.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
