Man suspected in apparent assassination attempt on Trump charged with federal gun crimes

Ryan Wesley Routh portrayed himself online as a man who built housing for homeless people in Hawaii, tried to recruit fighters for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, and described his support and then disdain for Donald Trump — even urging Iran to kill him.

“You are free to assassinate Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran in an apparently self-published book in 2023, “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” which described the former president as a “fool” and “buffoon” for both the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and the “tremendous blunder” of leaving the Iran nuclear deal.

Routh wrote that he once voted for Trump and must take part of the blame for the “child that we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless.”

Routh, 58, was arrested Sunday and charged Monday after authorities say he stalked the GOP presidential nominee as he golfed in West Palm Beach, Florida, with an AK-47-style rifle in an apparent assassination attempt thwarted by the Secret Service.

Through his voluminous online footprint, public records, news interviews and videos, a picture emerged of Routh as a man with a criminal past, plenty of outrage and shifting politics.

His over 500 posts on X showed his views ranging from the left to the right, including support for politicians such as Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard and Nicki Haley, as well as Trump.

Voter records show he registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina in 2012, most recently voting in person during the state’s Democratic primary in March.

Routh also made 19 small donations totaling US$140 since 2019 to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates, according to federal campaign finance records.

In a tweet in June 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd, Routh said then-President Trump could win reelection by issuing an executive order to prosecute police misconduct. However, in recent years, his posts appear to have soured on Trump, and he expressed support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

“DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose,” he wrote on X in April in support of Biden.

In July, following the assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, a post on Routh’s account urged Biden and Harris to visit those wounded in the shooting and attend the funeral of the firefighter who was killed.

“Trump will never do anything for them,” Routh wrote. “Show the world what compassion and humanity is all about.”

In his book, listed on Amazon and viewed by the AP, Routh noted: “I get so tired of people asking me if I am a Democrat or Republican as I refuse to be put in a category.”

The world would be better it were run by women, he wrote in the book that has links to his website and X account, because “it seems that the totality of the world’s problems revolve around men with massive insecurity and childlike intelligence and behavior.”

He posted frequently on social media about Ukraine and other conflicts, and he had a website seeking to raise money and recruit volunteers to fight for Kyiv. A photo of the wiry, wild-haired Routh on his site shows him smiling, wearing a T-shirt and jacket adorned with U.S. flags.

“Fight and die to stop aggression,” he posted on X in February 2023 about Ukraine. “Everyone should be outraged and helping.”

“This is about good versus evil,” Routh said in a video circulating online. And in a tweet, he said, “I am going to fight and die for Ukraine.”

Video shot by the AP showed Routh at a small demonstration in Kyiv’s Independence Square in April 2022, two months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of the country.

A placard he was holding said: “We cannot tolerate corruption and evil for another 50+ years. End Russia for our kids.”

That same day, he also visited a makeshift memorial to “Foreigners killed by Putin.”

But Routh never served in the Ukrainian army or worked with its military, said Oleksandr Shahuri of the Foreigners Coordination Department of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command.

Shahuri told AP that Routh periodically contacted the International Legion of Ukraine with what he described as “nonsensical ideas” that “can best be described as delusional.”

Routh appeared in a video standing in front of the U.S. Capitol and expressing frustration that Ukraine wasn’t taking more of the Afghan commandos he tried to recruit.

“They’re afraid that anybody and everybody is a Russian spy,” he told news website Semafor in 2023.

Earlier this year, he even tweeted at singers Bruno Mars and Dave Matthews to organize a “We are the World”-style effort for Kyiv. “We need an emotional tribute song for Ukraine as support stalls,” he wrote. “I have lyrics and music.”

Routh also tweeted to former basketball star Dennis Rodman, asking for help lifting sanctions against North Korea to ease tension with the country. In another, he invites a dozen protesters in Hong Kong to stay at his Hawaii home to escape a Chinese crackdown.

Routh lived most of his life in Greensboro, North Carolina, where his run-ins with law enforcement included a 2002 felony conviction for reportedly possessing “a fully automatic machine gun.” While court records don’t give details about the case, the Greensboro News & Record reported the arrest came after Routh ran from a traffic stop and held off police for three hours with the weapon at a roofing business. State records listed him as the business owner.

Records also show Routh was convicted of a felony count of possession of stolen goods in 2010, as well as misdemeanors including illegally carrying a concealed weapon, a hit-and-run, speeding and driving with a revoked license. Court records from the 2010 felony case say detectives determined Routh was storing stolen building supplies and other items at his roofing business warehouse, where he was living at the time. Money from the sale of the stolen goods was used to purchase crack cocaine, according to a police affidavit used to get a search warrant.

In both the felony cases, court records show judges sentenced Routh to either probation or a suspended sentence, allowing him to escape prison time.

It was not immediately clear how Routh was able to obtain a weapon. In most states, it is generally forbidden for a person convicted of a felony to purchase or possess a firearm.

In 2018, Routh moved to the small town of Kaaawa, Hawaii, about 45 minutes outside Honolulu, to go in business with his adult son building small wooden sheds. According to his LinkedIn page, the structures would “help address the highest homelessness rate in the United States due to unparalleled gentrification.”

“All of us are tired of seeing the homeless people all over the island with nowhere to go,” he told Honolulu’s Star-Advertiser in 2019.

No one answered the door Sunday at his blue stucco house near the beach that is colorfully painted with wooden cutouts of fish. A white pickup truck with a Biden-Harris bumper sticker and a flat tire was in the driveway.

Neighbour Christopher Tam said Routh kept to himself and was respectful, cordial and kind.

“It’s just been very surprising,” Tam said. “If he did have anything to do with it, it’s very shocking to us.”

Biesecker reported from Washington and Condon and Sisak reported from New York. AP writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Michael Balsamo, Colleen Long and Eric Tucker in Washington, and Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed. Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York also contributed.