The police has released bodycam footage of the arrest of Ryan Wesley Routh, suspect of attempting to assassinate former President and Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, at his West Palm Beach golf course in Florida.
In the footage released, Routh is seen walking backwards with his shirt over his head before being handcuffed. Court documents filed on Monday reveal that he had spent nearly 12 hours camping out near the golf course in West Palm Beach with food and a rifle. Routh is alleged to have been waiting for the former president when a Secret Service agent intervened and fired, preventing the possible attack.
The United States federal agency charged Routh of plotting to assassinate former US president Donald Trump with federal gun crimes, reported AFP news agency.
According to a report by the Associated Press, Routh, who presented himself online as someone involved in building homes for the homeless in Hawaii, attempted to recruit fighters for Ukraine to defend against Russia. He expressed both support for and later criticism of Donald Trump, even going so far as to encourage Iran to eliminate him.
In a self-published book from 2023 titled "Ukraine’s Unwinnable War," he wrote, "You are free to assassinate Trump” and described the former president as a “fool” and “buffoon” for both the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot and the “tremendous blunder” of leaving the Iran nuclear deal. He also 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.”
Not just this, reports also revealed that Routh frequently posted on social media about the war in Ukraine and also had a website where he sought to raise money and recruit volunteers to go to Kyiv to join the fight against the Russian invasion.
In February 2023, he posted about Ukraine on X, “Fight and die to stop aggression.” “Everyone should be outraged and helping.” In a video circulating online Routh said, “This is about good versus evil.”
He also wrote separately on X, “I am going to fight and die for Ukraine,” and he even traveled there, AP report stated.
Video shot by The Associated Press 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.” Routh wore a blue vest with the U.S. flag on the back.
That same day, Routh 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.
Routh's politics, meanwhile, don't appear consistently aligned to one party or the other.
In June 2020, he offered a post on X directed at then-President Trump to say he would win reelection if he issued an executive order for the Justice Department to prosecute police misconduct. That year, he also posted in support of the Democratic presidential campaign of then-U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who has since left the party and endorsed Trump.
However, in recent years, his posts suggest he soured on Trump, and he expressed support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
In July, following the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania, Routh urged Biden and Harris to visit those wounded in the shooting at the hospital and to attend the funeral of a former fire chief killed at the rally.
Voter records show he registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina in 2012, most recently voting in person during the state’s Democratic Party primary in March 2024. Federal campaign finance records show Routh made 19 small political donations totaling $140 since 2019 using his Hawaii address through a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates.
In 2002, Routh was convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, according to online North Carolina Department of Adult Correction records.
(With inputs from AP)
