The man arrested in connection with an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump is a former supporter who turned against the former president partly for foreign policy reasons and later traveled to Ukraine, where he tried to rally a volunteer force to fight. the russians.
The revelations about Ryan Wesley Routh came to light Monday, a day after a Secret Service agent busted him from hiding at a West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course where Trump had been playing. He was later taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies.
Court papers revealed that Routh had been in a wooded area with a loaded SKS-style rifle near the course for 12 hours before he was spotted, raising new questions about whether the Secret Service did enough to protect the politician. who had already survived one assassination attempt.
Trump was in the fifth lane and not within sight of Routh when the agent “engaged” the suspect, said Ronald Rowe, director of the Secret Service. Routh also never fired his gun.
But Routh, 58, was equipped to kill, according to the criminal complaint.
In addition to the digital camera and two bags, investigators found a loaded SKS-style 7.62×39-caliber rifle with the serial number “discarded” and a black plastic bag containing food that likely sustained Routh while he waited in the wooded area. .
Routh was arraigned Monday in Paul G. Rogers Federal Courthouse in West Palm Beach on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with a discarded serial number.
The FBI confirmed it was investigating Trump’s “apparent attempted assassination” on Sunday, but so far Routh has not been charged with his attempted murder.
Body camera video released by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office shows Routh wearing sunglasses and a pink T-shirt over his head, exposing his midriff. He had been told to pull up his shirt to show he had no concealed weapons, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder told NBC News. He was arrested without incident.
The next day, Routh appeared unfazed, dressed in prison garb during his brief court appearance. He said he has a 25-year-old son and told the judge he has no money, but he has two trucks in Hawaii, where he now lives, that are worth about $1,000.
Represented by the public defender, Routh was given a September 23 right-of-return date and was then sent back to jail.
A possible motive was not discussed. Routh said in his self-published book that he voted for Trump in 2016 and regretted it after Trump made what he called a “huge mistake” in 2018 and withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal.
“I must take some of the blame,” he wrote in last year’s “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: Democracy’s Fatal Flaw, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen – Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea and the End of Mankind.” He added that Trump “turned out to be brainless, but I’m man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake, and I apologize.”
“Feel free to assassinate Trump and me for that lapse in judgment and for canceling the deal,” Routh wrote.
Then he added, “No one here in the United States seems to have the balls to create natural selection, or even unnatural selection.”
Federal investigators released a criminal complaint that said Routh had been betting at Trump International Golf Club for about 12 hours, starting at 1:59 a.m. Sunday until 1:31 p.m. Sunday, when a Secret Service agent walked the course. the rifle pokes out of the tree line.
According to the complaint, the agent fired a rifle and flushed out the man, later identified as Routh, who was seen getting into a Nissan SUV and driving away, according to the witness. Authorities found the vehicle and drove past Routh on Interstate 95 less than an hour later, and a witness who saw him leaving the golf course identified him.
Trump survived an assassination attempt in July when a bullet lodged in one of his ears while he was addressing supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, died, and investigators have not yet released a motive.
Routh has recently been living in a small town outside Honolulu with her son, according to public records and court filings. But he had spent most of his life in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he ran a roofing company, according to public records. He reportedly had more than 100 run-ins with the law, but he never did.
In 2002, court records show Routh was convicted of unlawful possession of a machine gun.
Court records for a person named Ryan Routh also show a 2003 divorce and several civil judgments after contractors and individuals sued the roofing company he ran.
Routh still has relatives in Greensboro, according to a public records search. His relatives were reluctant to speak to reporters on Monday.
Former neighbor Kim Mungo said Routh lived next door to her for 18 years and never talked about politics or Ukraine with her. He described her as “gorgeous” and said the house belonged to his ex-wife.
Mungo said he watched over the house when Routh moved permanently to Hawaii.
When asked if he had ever seen any guns in the apartment, Mungo said he had seen some rifles – and one very large animal.
Routh was active on social media. In 2020, he posted on Twitter (now X) that he had supported Trump in 2016, but was deeply disillusioned with him. He also used the X to express his support for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who was then running for the Democratic presidential nomination. And like Trump, he disparaged President Joe Biden as “Sleepy Joe.”
While living in Hawaii, Routh made several donations, from $1 to $25, to the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue in 2019 and 2020, according to Federal Election Commission records.
In his 291-page book, Routh revealed that he was considered a political party.
“I’m so sick of people asking me if I’m a Democrat or a Republican because I refuse to be pigeonholed and always have to answer as an independent,” she wrote.
Routh dismissed Trump as “stupid” and a “talker,” but he liked him for reaching out to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Biden “still needs to be man enough to make the call and do the right thing,” Routh wrote.
Routh was also a vocal supporter of Ukraine and visited there in 2022. That summer, NBC News spoke with Routh, who said in a message that the West’s “limited response” to the Russia-Ukraine war was “extremely disappointing” and called time. “the indictment of all mankind.” There was never an official interview, and Routh’s comments were not included in NBC News’ coverage of the war.
In a 2022 interview with Newsweek Romania, Routh said that he had volunteered to fight for the International Ukrainian Defense Legion, but was rejected due to his age and lack of combat experience.
Instead, Routh claimed, he decided to help recruit soldiers in Kiev. A representative of the International Legion told NBC News on Monday that Routh never served in its military.
In his book, Routh appeared to be unhappy with the way the government in Kiev treats foreigners who joined the fight against Russia.
“Unfortunately, Ukraine does not roll out the red carpet for foreign fighters and volunteers, and they do not celebrate their sacrifices and assistance,” he wrote.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
