The man arrested in connection with an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump is a former supporter of the former president who turned against him for foreign policy reasons, among others, and later traveled to Ukraine, where he made an ill-fated attempt to set up a volunteer force to fight the Russians.
The revelations about Ryan Wesley Routh came to light on Monday, a day after a Secret Service agent nabbed him from his hiding place on the West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course where Trump had been playing. Sheriff’s officials later took him into custody.
Court records show that Routh had been camping in a wooded area near the golf course with a loaded SKS rifle for 12 hours before he was discovered, raising new questions about whether the Secret Service did enough to protect a politician who had already survived an assassination attempt.
Trump was on the fifth fairway and not in Routh’s line of sight when the agent “attacked” the suspect, said Ronald Rowe, deputy director of the Secret Service. Routh also never fired his weapon.
But Routh, 58, was equipped to kill, the indictment says.
In addition to a digital camera and two bags, investigators found a loaded 7.62 x 39 SKS rifle with a telescopic sight whose serial number had been “obscured” and a black plastic bag containing food that would presumably have kept Routh alive while he waited in the woods.
Routh was arraigned Monday in Paul G. Rogers federal court in West Palm Beach on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
The FBI confirmed that it is investigating an “apparent assassination attempt” on Trump on Sunday, but Routh has not yet been charged with attempted murder.
Body camera video released by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office shows Routh wearing sunglasses and a pink T-shirt pulled over his head, exposing his stomach. He was instructed to pull up his shirt to show he was not carrying any concealed weapons, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder told NBC News. He was arrested without incident.
The next day, Routh appeared calm in his brief court appearance, wearing a jail gown. He said he had a 25-year-old son, and he told the judge he had no money but owned two trucks in Hawaii, where he now lives, each worth about $1,000.
Routh was represented by a public defender and given a court date of September 23. He was then sent back to jail.
A possible motive was not discussed. In a self-published book, Routh said he voted for Trump in 2016 and regretted it after Trump made a “huge mistake” in 2018 and withdrew the US from the nuclear deal with Iran.
“I must take some of the blame,” he wrote in his book, “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: Democracy’s Fatal Error, the Abandonment of the World and Global Citizens – Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea, and the End of Humanity,” published last year. He added that Trump “was ultimately brainless, but I am man enough to say I miscalculated and made a terrible mistake, and I apologize to Iran.”
“You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for this error of judgement and the collapse of the agreement,” Routh wrote.
He then added: “Nobody here in the United States seems to have the courage to use natural or even unnatural selection.”
Federal investigators released a criminal complaint saying Routh conducted surveillance at Trump International Golf Club for about 12 hours. The incident occurred at 1:59 a.m. Sunday and lasted until 1:31 p.m., when a Secret Service agent walking the grounds saw what appeared to be a rifle sticking out of a line of trees.
The agent, the complaint says, fired in the direction of the rifle, scaring away a man later identified as Routh. According to a witness, he was seen getting into a Nissan SUV and driving away. Officers found the vehicle and stopped Routh less than an hour later on Interstate 95. The witness, who saw him leaving the golf course, identified him.
Trump survived an assassination attempt in July when a bullet grazed his ear as he addressed supporters at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed, and investigators have not yet released a motive.
According to public records and court testimony, Routh most recently lived with his son in a small town outside Honolulu. But he spent most of his life in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he ran a roofing business, according to public records. Records show he had more than 100 run-ins with the law but never served time in prison.
According to court records, Routh was convicted in 2002 of illegal possession of a machine gun.
Court records for a person named Ryan Routh also show a 2003 divorce, along with several civil judgments after contractors and individuals sued a roofing company he helped manage.
Routh still has relatives in Greensboro, a public records search shows. His relatives declined to speak to reporters Monday.
A former neighbor, Kim Mungo, said Routh lived next door to her for 18 years and never spoke to her about politics or Ukraine. She described him as “gorgeous” and said the house belonged to his ex-wife.
Mungo said she watched over the house while Routh moved permanently to Hawaii.
When asked if she had ever seen weapons in the house, Mungo said she had seen some rifles – and a very large animal.
Routh was active on social media. In 2020, he posted on Twitter (now X) that he supported Trump in 2016 but was deeply disappointed in him. He also used X to signal his support for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who was then running for the Democratic presidential nomination. And like Trump, he denigrated President Joe Biden as “Sleepy Joe.”
While living in Hawaii, Routh made several donations ranging from $1 to $25 to the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue in 2019 and 2020, according to Federal Election Commission records.
In his 291-page work, Routh expressed his anger at being labelled a political partisan.
“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 ‘independent,'” he wrote.
Routh denigrated Trump as a “fool” and a “buffoon” but praised him for reaching out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Biden “is not yet man enough to make the call and do the right thing,” Routh wrote.
Routh has also been a vocal supporter of Ukraine, visiting in 2022. That summer, NBC News spoke with Routh, who said in a news story that the West’s “limited response” to the Russia-Ukraine war was “extremely disappointing” and called the moment “an indictment of all humanity.” There was never a formal interview, and Routh’s comments were not included in NBC News’ coverage of the war.
In an interview with Newsweek Romania in 2022, Routh said he volunteered to fight for the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine but was rejected because of his age and lack of combat experience.
Instead, Routh claimed, he chose to help with the military’s recruitment efforts in Kiev. An International Legion representative told NBC News on Monday that Routh never served in their military.
In his book, Routh expressed dissatisfaction with the way the government in Kiev treats foreigners who have joined their fight against Russia.
“Sadly, Ukraine does not roll out the red carpet for foreign fighters and volunteers, nor does it appreciate their sacrifices and help,” he wrote.
