The suspect in the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump is a 58-year-old Florida resident who seemingly travelled to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion and became a champion for sending arms and even American soldiers to help Kyiv.
Officials told US media the man taken into custody was Ryan Wesley Routh, whose bio on X, formerly Twitter, says: “I feel lucky to have been born in America, with freedom and opportunity and hope that I do not waste such a valuable thing; to do more and take less.”
Based on his social media profile, it seems that two years ago he travelled to Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion and urged Americans to join him there.
He also urged Congress to send money and arms.
“I am here in Kyiv and want to use Independence Park to create a tent city of all the foreigners here in support to get thousands more foreign civilians to come and support Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter in April 2022.
Tweeting the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he said: “Forget the no fly zone – ask Congress to put all American military on paid leave so they can fight. Ask Congress to put all American military on paid leave so they can fight as civilians in Ukraine.
“Tell Congress what you will pay for all weapons – drones, missiles, planes-everything. Give them a blank check so no US responsibility.”
Mr Routh was allegedly armed with an AK-47, had a protective ceramic tile vest, and was carrying two backpacks during the alleged attempted assassination on Sunday. Officials said Mr Routh dropped them and fled in a car, a Nissan.
A witness was able to photograph the vehicle’s number plate and Mr Routh was subsequently arrested almost 50 miles from Trump International Golf Club in neighbouring Martin County.
On his LinkedIn page Mr Routh displays the Ukrainian flag and says he owned Camp Box Honolulu in Hawaii, which builds “simple economical structures to help address the highest homelessness rate in the United States due to unparalleled gentrification”.
“I am constantly looking for collaborative opportunities which yield the most public impact for the improvement of our society,” he writes.
“I would tremendously enjoy the invitation to join any monumental worthy cause to bring about real change in our world.”
Mr Routh apparently attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, but relocated to Hawaii sometime around 2018. US media said he had eight arrests on his record for minor offences and the car he allegedly used on Sunday was registered to a family member, who is said to live in the south Florida area.
On his LinkedIn page, Mr Routh wrote: “I am certainly free to relocate to any remote location on the planet that might render the most positive impact, or right around the corner creating something unique and magical.”
It appears he has not used X, formerly Twitter, for a year, when he wrote about Haiti’s struggle to combat gang violence.
“I have thousands of Afghan soldiers that wish to serve for the Haiti national police at cheap wages,” he said. “1000s with passports ready to fly.”
The “replies” tab on Mr Routh’s X feed shows he recently sent messages to Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, urging them to visit the people injured during a previous assassination attempt on Trump.
Referring to the July rally Trump held in Butler County, Pennsylvania, where the former president narrowly escaped with his life and a rally-goer was killed, he said: “You and Biden should visit the injured people in the hospital from the Trump rally and attend the funeral of the murdered fireman.”
He added: “Trump will never do anything for them….show the world what compassion and humanity is all about.”
In another post from May 2022 he wrote: “Killing anywhere is extremely tragic.”
CNN said law enforcement officers were not only trying to ascertain a motive for the attempted killing, but how Mr Routh might have hoped to exploit it.
They are understood to be looking at the time he is said to have spent in Ukraine, and also the fact he was carrying a GoPro camera, suggesting he intended to film or stream any actions.
According to a report by Greensboro’s News and Record newspaper, in 2002 Mr Routh was convicted of “possessing a weapon of mass destruction”, according to online North Carolina Department of Adult Correction records. [Can we please double check whether he was convicted or just charged? It looks like the original 2002 article mentions the charging but I didn’t see anything about a conviction.]
The report said Mr Routh was pulled over during a traffic stop, put his hand on a firearm and later drove off to a roofing business, where he reportedly barricaded himself in.
He was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possessing a weapon of mass destruction, understood to be a fully automatic machine gun.
The post Ryan Wesley Routh: The assassination suspect who flew to Ukraine and urged Americans to join him appeared first on The Telegraph.
