Former AG Barr 'dumbfounded' at DOJ’s decision to release letter of Trump would-be assassin

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EXCLUSIVE - Former Attorney General William Barr says he is "dumbfounded" that the Justice Department released a chilling letter penned by would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh on Monday, calling the decision "rash" and serving no purpose "other than to risk inciting further violence."

Routh is the suspect in former President Donald Trump's second foiled assassination attempt. The DOJ obtained the letter from a witness who says they received it inside a box delivered to them by Routh several months prior to the assassination attempt.

The box contained several handwritten letters as well as ammunition, among other things. One of the letters, addressed "Dear World," admitted to an assassination attempt on Trump. He also offered money to anyone willing to finish the job.

"I was dumbfounded that the DOJ made public this morning the contents of the letter that, Ryan Routh, left with an acquaintance prior to the attempted assassination of former President Trump," Barr said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SUSPECT ROUTH NOT TO BE RELEASED

"The letter calls on people to ‘finish the job’ of killing President Trump, attempts to rouse people in incendiary terms to do so, and offers $150,000 to anyone who succeeds. There was no apparent justification for releasing this information at this stage," he continued.

Barr,