Ryan Wesley Routh: Would-Be Trump Assassin, Went to Ukraine to Join War

A suspect is in custody after an apparent assassination attempt on Sunday against former President Donald Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. The suspect, identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, aged 58, appears to have been motivated by frustration with U.S. policy on the war in Ukraine.
In a June 2022 interview with Newsweek Romania, Routh spoke about his efforts to recruit volunteers for the International Legion Defense of Ukraine, a unit of Ukraine’s Ground Forces.
“The question as far as why I’m here… to me, a lot of the other conflicts are grey, but this conflict is definitely black and white,” Routh said. “This is about good versus evil. This is a storybook, you know, any movie we’ve ever watched, this is definitely evil against good.”
CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller reported Sunday afternoon that Routh’s social media accounts have focused on his “self-proclaimed involvement” in the war in Ukraine, including his supposed effort to recruit soldiers to fight in the conflict. Routh also claimed to have fought in Ukraine as it continues to hold off Russia’s invasion.
Routh appears to have previously spoken with The New York Times about his effort to recruit Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban to fight in Ukraine. At the time of the report, which was published on March 25, 2023, Routh told the Times that he had spent several months in Ukraine in 2022.
A Semafor report published on March 10, 2023, cited Routh as the head of the International Volunteer Center (IVC) in Ukraine, a private organization that works to “empower volunteers” and other non-profit groups that work to “enhance the distribution of humanitarian aid throughout Ukraine,” according to the IVC’s website.
Trump has been vocal about his skepticism of providing military arms to Ukraine, inspiring his party to block essential military funding to the country for months earlier this year.
During the recent debate with his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump was asked directly, “Do you want Ukraine to win this war?” He did not say “yes.”
Routh wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) in July that he had voted for Trump in 2016.
“While you were my choice in 2016, I and the world hoped that President Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointed and it seems you are getting worse and devolving,” he said.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, has tweeted a message to Trump, saying he’s glad the former U.S. President is unharmed.
“This is our principle: the rule of law is paramount and political violence has no place anywhere in the world,” he wrote on X.
In an email to supporters, Trump said: “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!”
“Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!” the former president said.
The former president, who was uninjured, returned to his home at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach after the incident.
Trump’s running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance, posted on X that he spoke to the former president before the news became public and said, “he was, amazingly, in good spirits.”
Vance said there was still a lot “we don’t know” about the incident.
It has emerged that Routh also wrote a book called Ukraine’s Unwinnable War, which is on sale on Amazon.
“I am the failure, the hypocrite that wants the world to change but let communism beat me down and exhaust me and send me home,” he writes in the book.
CNN analyst Miller said that Routh has been living in Hawaii and was formerly a construction worker in North Carolina. The suspect has also reportedly been previously arrested eight times, mostly for minor offenses.
He was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, the AP reported, per online North Carolina Department of Adult Correction records but could not provide details about the case.
A December 2002 story by News & Record in Greensboro, North Carolina, said that a man with the same name was arrested after a three-hour standoff with police. Routh was reportedly charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possessing a weapon of mass destruction, “referring to a fully automatic machine gun.”
Federal Election Commission (FEC) records paint an unexpected picture of the suspect’s past political engagement.
Records show that between September 2019 and March 2020, Routh, then a resident of Kaaawa, Hawaii, contributed over $140 through the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue. These donations, ranging from $1 to $25, came at a time when Routh was listed as “not employed” in official records. His contributions, though modest, targeted a diverse array of 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls.
Beneficiaries of Routh’s political largesse included former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, billionaire activist Tom Steyer, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Curiously, Routh also repeatedly supported former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who has since dramatically shifted her political allegiances, leaving the Democratic Party and aligning with Trump.
Notably absent from Routh’s donation list are President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who ultimately secured the Democratic nomination.
Routh’s accounts on X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook have been suspended. However, Newsweek has seen their contents before the suspension.
On X, Routh posted dozens of times in support of Ukraine. In March 2022, for example, shortly after the full-scale invasion, he wrote: “I AM WILLING TO FLY TO KRAKOW AND GO TO THE BORDER OF UKRAINE TO VOLUNTEER AND FIGHT AND DIE … Can I be the example We must win.”
Earlier posts appear to indicate a shift in his political stance. In June 2020, in a post tagging Trump’s account, he wrote: “While you were my choice in 2106, I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving.”
“I will be glad when you gone,” he added.
More recently, his support for Ukraine continued. In April 2024, Routh tagged Elon Musk in another X post, writing: “I would like to buy a rocket from you. I wish to load it with a warhead for Putins Black sea mansion bunker to end him. Can you give me a price please.”
Routh used his personal Facebook account to encourage foreigners to fight in Ukraine’s war against Russia. In particular, he wanted to enlist Afghan troops.
“Afghan Soldiers- Ukraine is somewhat interested in 3000 soldiers, so I need every soldier that has a passport to send me a copy of their passport to send to Ukraine,” he wrote in October 2023.
Trump was playing golf Sunday afternoon at his Trump International Golf course.
At around 1:30 p.m., Secret Service agents on duty near the former president noticed a rifle through the fence around the perimeter of the course, Ric Bradshaw the Palm Beach County Sheriff said at a press conference.
The suspect was near the fourth or fifth hole. This was one or two holes ahead of where Trump was playing–about 400-500 yards from the gunman.
A U.S. Secret Service was one hole ahead of Trump’s group on the course. He spotted the suspect in the shrubbery by the fence and “immediately engaged that individual,” Bradshaw said. The officer opened fire. The suspect abandoned the weapon and escaped in a Nissan SUV.
A witness told police he saw the suspect running out of the bushes and jumping into a black Nissan vehicle, Bradshaw said. The witness took a photograph of the vehicle, which allowed police to track the suspect via the license plate.
Bradshaw said the suspect had an AK-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks hanging on a fence and a GoPro camera.
Photos shared by law enforcement show two black bags hanging from a chain-link fence in the shrubbery outside the course, with the firearm propped up in between them and pointed through a gap in the fence.
The GoPro camera was hanging on the fence to the side.
After fleeing in the SUV, Routh was apprehended in a nearby county without a weapon, law enforcement officials told AP.
Police took the witness to the scene of the arrest and the witness identified the suspect, Bradshaw said.
Teri Barbera, a spokesperson for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, said there was only one person of interest in the investigation who was being interrogated. Barbera did not offer information about a possible motive.
Dave Aronberg, state attorney for Palm Beach County, said his prosecutors are working up warrant and pretrial detention applications. Aronberg indicated the suspect will initially be charged at the state level but could also be charged with federal crimes.
“Our filing of the warrant and charges at the state level does not preclude the federal charges that could be coming,” Aronberg said. “But in the meantime, it looks like the warrants and a pretrial detention motion will happen first.”
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a close Trump ally, posted on X, “Dear Democrats and your activists in the media, Is two assassination attempts on Donald Trump’s life considered a ‘threat to democracy’ yet?”
After Sunday’s incident–which occurred just nine weeks after the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania–the Trump campaign sent an email to campaign staffers asking them to be on alert. According to AP, which obtained the email, it read, “This is not a matter that we take lightly. Your safety is always our top priority. We ask that you remain vigilant in your daily comings and goings.”
“As we enter the last 50 days of President said, Trump’s campaign, we must remember that we will only be able save America from those who seek to destroy it by working together as one team.”
President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris were briefed on the incident and the ongoing investigation. “I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe,” she posted. “Violence has no place in America.”
Biden released a similar statement. “I am relieved that the former President is unharmed,” he said. “As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country, and I have directed my team to continue to ensure that Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former President’s continued safety.”
Florida Governor Ron Desantis said the state would be conducting a thorough investigation of the shooting on X, “The people deserve the truth about the would be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee.”
Oran Routh, Ryan Routh’s son, told CNN after his father’s detainment on Sunday that he hopes everything has “just been blown out of proportion” and that it’s not like his father “to do anything crazy, much less violent.”
“Ryan is my father, and I don’t have any comment beyond a character profile of him as a loving and caring father, and honest, hardworking man. I don’t know what’s happened in Florida, and I hope things have just been blown out of proportion, because from the little I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like the man I know to do anything crazy, much less violent. He’s a good father, and a great man, and I hope you can portray him in an honest light,” he said.
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Update 9/16/24, 4:52 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with Routh’s social media activity before it was suspended.
Update 9/15/24, 10:36 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and FEC filings.
Update 9/15/24, 9:02 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and statement from Oran Routh.
Update 9/15/24, 8:21 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
Update 9/15/24, 7:39 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.