US presidential candidate Donald Trump faced a fresh assassination bid on Sunday as he played golf in Florida. His attacker — identified unofficially as Ryan Wesley Routh — had been a vocal supporter of Ukraine amid its war with Russia and even attempted to recruit soldiers for Kyiv. Somewhat concerningly, the attack came mere days after the former POTUS had refused to support a victory for Ukraine during his debate with Kamala Harris.
According to media reports, the suspect is a self-employed affordable housing builder in Hawaii with an arrest record spanning decades. He had regularly posted on politics and current events and even voted for Trump during the 2016 elections. He soured towards the Republican leader in the ensuing years and now appears to support some members of the Democratic party.
Routh was interviewed by several media platforms in 2022 as he attempted to mobilise support for Ukraine. The Hawaii resident had initially reached Kyiv to join the war against Russia on the frontlines. He turned to promoting the cause when that plan did not work out due to his age and lack of experience.
“A lot of the other conflicts are grey but this conflict is definitely black and white. This is about good versus evil. If the governments will not send their official military, then we, civilians, have to pick up the torch and make this thing happen and we have gotten some wonderful people here but it is a small fraction of the number that should be here,” he had told Newsweek Romania in June 2022.
Nearly a year later he told Semafor that he had been trying to recruit US-trained Afghan fighters to combat Russia. However the defence ministry in Kyiv had not agreed to issue visas to them.
Routh also outlined his plan to recruit potential Afghan soldiers through Pakistan during an interview with The New York Times in 2023. He said he was seeking recruits who had fled the Taliban and planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine. He said dozens had expressed interest.
“We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan since it’s such a corrupt country,” he was quoted as saying by the New York Times.
(With inputs from agencies)
