The man who allegedly planned to assassinate Donald Trump went from voting for him in 2016 to donating to Democrats in 2020, to four years later calling him a ‘threat to democracy’ and that he’d ‘be glad when’ Trump’s gone.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, is in custody after aiming an AK-47 rifle barrel towards Trump when he was golfing at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday. He is expected to be charged overnight.
The incident took place exactly two months after a separate assassination attempt against Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The suspect was found unarmed, as a backpack, GoPro camera and AK-47 style rifle that the gunman left behind when fleeing the scene had already been located.
His arrest has led to a search for who Routh is and how he ended up alarmingly close to the president with a a semi-automatic rifle.
Routh’s posts on his now-deactivated Facebook and X accounts paint a picture of a man radicalized about both Trump and the Russia-Ukraine war.
He also appears to have a record of over 100 counts of various crimes, including a 2002 arrest for possessing a weapon of mass destruction, per the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.
The records do not provide details about the case. But a News & Record story from 2002 says a man with the same name was arrested after a three-hour standoff with police.
The man who allegedly planned to assassinate Donald Trump went from voting for him in 2016 to donating to Democrats in 2020 to four years later, claiming he’d ‘be glad when’ Trump’s gone
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, is in custody after aiming an AK-47 rifle barrel towards Trump when he was golfing at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday. He is expected to be charged overnight
The story says he was pulled over during a traffic stop, put his hand on a gun and barricaded himself inside a roofing business.
Routh, 36 at the time, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possessing a weapon of mass destruction, ‘referring to a fully automatic machine gun,’ according to the News & Record.
Further look into Routh’s past show convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, possession of stolen property and hit-and-run, per NBC News.
There is no apparent record of Routh spending any time in prison for any of these offenses, as well as resisting an officer and driving on a suspended license. He was only ever given parole, a probation or suspension of license.
Routh’s son, Oran Routh, seemed unaware of all of this. In an interview, he told DailyMail.com he believes his father is not a violent person and did not even think he owned a gun.
‘He’s my dad and all he’s had is couple traffic tickets, as far as I know,’ the son said. ‘That’s crazy. I know my dad and love my dad, but that’s nothing like him.’
‘He’s not a violent person,’ he said. ‘He’s a hard worker and a great dad. He’s a great dude, a nice guy and has worked his whole f**king life.’
Asked whether his father owned a gun, he replied: ‘Not that I know of. I’ve never known him to own a gun or known him to do anything bats*** like this.’
Routh’s tweets in recent months have been a desperate attempt to get celebrities and political candidates to support the country
Ryan Routh, photographed in his junior year yearbook at Northwest Guilford High School in North Carolina
Analysts are more worried, however, about a social media history that includes strong anti-Trump invective and desperate pleas to help Ukraine.
His X feed shows a man who went from Trump voter to Trump hater in the span of eight years.
He wrote a tweet to Trump in June 2020 saying: ‘While you were my choice in 2106 [sic], 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; are you retarded; I will be glad when you gone’.
FEC filings show him donating 19 times to everyone from Gabbard to Andrew Yang to Elizabeth Warren to Tom Steyer in the 2020 Democrat primary and he was registered as a Democrat, according to publicly available records.
He later fully endorsed Gabbard, writing that the then-Hawaii Congressman would ‘tirelessly negotiate peace deals in Syria, Afghanistan, and all turmoil zones.’
During the George Floyd protests, he was preaching anti-police rhetoric but also used both ‘BlackLivesMatter’ and ‘AllLivesMatter’ as a hashtag.
‘State and local officials can no longer be allowed to handle police oversight. We must fight for federal DOJ special committee to investigate all present and past cases of police brutality and file charges-WE NEED CHANGE’, he wrote in June 2020.
In 2024, he begged Ramaswamy and Haley to form a ticket together to defeat Trump in the Republican Primary, per the New York Post.
The house of Ryan Routh is seen in Kaaawa, Hawaii, Sunday. Routh said his father moved from North Carolina to Hawaii – living on the eastern shores of Oahu on Kaaawa – a few years back and was living with his longtime girlfriend
An image shared by law enforcement reveals that backpack, bag, GoPro camera and AK-47 rifle with scope that a suspected would-be assassin had staged outside of Donald Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach on Sunday
When Ramaswamy dropped out, he tweeted at the entrepreneur: ‘You cannot quit. Why. You must stay on the ballot to the end. You must fight. You must continue giving speeches and push all the way to election day no matter the election results. Do not give in. Join Nikki and keep working. Never give up’.
With the two of them exiting the race, he put his full support behind Biden and Harris and echoed their language about not going back and that Trump is a threat to democracy.
‘We cannot afford to fail,’ Routh said, echoing Harris and Biden’s rhetoric. ‘The world is counting on us to show the way.’
He also said on social media that Trump wanted to turn America into ‘slaves against master’.
He later urged Biden and Harris to visit Butler, Pennsylvania after the first Trump shooting, saying it was what ‘REAL LEADERS DO’.
Oran Routh confirmed that his father hates Trump as he says ‘every reasonable person does.
‘I don’t like Trump either,’ the son added.
Routh said his father moved from North Carolina, where he grew up and attended Northwest Guilford High School, to Hawaii – living on the eastern shores of Oahu on Kaaawa – a few years back and was living with his longtime girlfriend. He said he didn’t know his father was even in Florida.
‘He said he was at the beach, but I thought that meant the outer banks in Hawaii,’ he said. ‘I didn’t ask him for more information because we’ve had a falling out. We’ve grown apart.’
Routh (pictured back row center) on the tennis team at Northwest Guilford High School in 1983
Oren wouldn’t explain the nature of their ‘falling out,’ but still spoke highly of his father.
He said his father works as a general contractor, building small homes in Hawaii, and previously owned a roofing company.
However, it appears Ryan Routh has led a double life as a pro-Ukraine activist, even attempting to recruit soldiers from other countries to fight their war against Russia.
A New York Times piece in 2023 suggested he was a less-than trustworthy volunteer for the war-torn nation.
Routh allegedly tried to illegally take Afghan soldiers feeling the Taliban to fight on Ukraine’s side as part of the International Volunteer Center, according to Semafor.
‘We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan, since it’s such a corrupt country,’ he said, claiming dozens were interested.
Roth’s contact information is featured on multiple websites involved in the recruitment effort, as well as one supporting Taiwan in a potential war on China, according to The Daily Beast.
On Twitter, he posted about having spent half a year on the campaign and failing.
Routh has led a double life as a pro-Ukraine activist, even attempting to recruit soldiers from other countries to fight their war against Russia
On Twitter, he posted about having spent half a year on the campaign and failing
Routh’s tweets in recent months have been a desperate attempt to get celebrities and political candidates to support the country.
Before his account was suspended, most of his recent tweets were begging everyone from Bruno Mars to Sting to Jack Johnson to Bono to record a song in support of Ukraine.
‘He goes deep into his his self-proclaimed involvement in the conflict in Ukraine, his efforts to recruit soldiers and bring them into the country, his claims that he has been there possibly as a fighter,’ CNN law enforcement analyst John Miller said Sunday.
However, in one profile, he expressed his frustration with Ukraine for rebuffing his advances.
‘Ukraine is very often hard to work with. They’re afraid that anybody and everybody is a Russian spy.’
Routh, 58 is in custody after the terrifying incident at Trump International Club almost exactly two months after a separate assassination attempt against Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The suspect was found unarmed, as a backpack, GoPro camera and AK-47 style rifle that a gunman left behind when fleeing the scene have already been located.
Martin County Sherriff William D. Snyder said Routh ‘was not displaying a lot of emotions’ when police arrested him.
Snyder added that the suspected shooter was ‘relatively calm’ and ‘never asked’ why he was being detained.
The car Routh was found in will be taken into FBI custody for further investigation, according to authorities.
Trump was seen later Sunday with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson
Supporters of former President Donald Trump stand near his Mar-a-Lago residence in West Palm Beach
‘I have a clear understanding from investigators that we actually do have the suspect that they’re looking for in Palm Beach County,’ Snyder said.
Officials said U.S. Secret Service agents spotted a rifle barrel sticking out of the bushes two holes ahead of where Trump was golfing on Sunday, prompting the agents to fire at the suspect.
The individual ran into his vehicle from the trees, but was spotted by a witness who snapped a picture of his vehicle – a black Nissan – which included the license plate.
Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters at a press conference hours after the incident that the witness was able to share the plate and later identify the suspect as the person he saw fleeing the scene.
Bradshaw said that the Secret Service had a ‘limited’ ability to protect Trump at the golf course.
‘The golf course is surrounded by shrubbery, so when somebody gets into the shrubbery, they’re pretty much out of sight, all right, and at this level that he is at right now, he’s not the sitting president,’ Bradshaw said.
The former president was rushed to safety on Sunday after multiple shots were fired in his vicinity while he was playing golf at his club in West Palm Beach.
Trump confirmed in a statement about an hour after the shots were reported that he is ‘safe and well’ and didn’t want rumors to ‘start spiraling out of control.’
Secret Service and Homeland Security agents check a former home of a suspect named by news organizations as Ryan W. Routh as the FBI investigates what they said was an apparent assassination attempt in Florida on Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump
Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters at a press conference hours after the incident that the witness was able to share the plate and later identify the suspect as the person he saw fleeing the scene
Routh was able to get within 400-500 yards of Trump.
The 2024 Republican nominee’s bulked up Secret Service advance team, however, spotted the shooter in the tree lines just two holes from where Trump was golfing.
Special Agent Rafael Barros explained at the press conference on Sunday that Secret Service moves with Trump and is usually surveying one or two holes ahead of him when he goes for a round of golf.
Asked if the security has changed around Trump since the first attempt on his life earlier this summer, Barros said: ‘Yes, the threat was high.’
‘We have increased the amount of assets that we’ve supported,’ he continued. ‘We are living in dangerous times.’
Real estate investor and New York City landlord Steve Witkoff was Trump’s golfing buddy on Sunday, sources told DailyMail.com.
The FBI released a statement two hours after the incident claiming the attack ‘appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump.’
The armed suspect was posted up outside the club around the 5th and 6th hole, which is confirmed to be a more ‘vulnerable’ area of the course because it is closest to the road.
Sheriff Bradshaw detailed that the suspected assassin was wielding an ‘AK-47 style weapon with a scope’, which was recovered at the scene.
So was a backpack and GoPro camera, which Sheriff Bradshaw revealed in images of where the suspect was set-up in the bushes along the fencing of Trump’s golf club.
When not campaigning, Trump is often found golfing at his West Palm Beach club. Pictured: Donald Trump flashes a thumbs-up as he golfs at his club in West Palm Beach on May 4, 2023
The area where the suspect was first spotted by his security detail was two holes ahead of where Trump was golfing at the time of gunshots, causing the individual to flee.
Undergrowth is cut back in this area every summer and is one of the parts of the course closest to the road.
The incident comes as Trump’s security detail has been ramped up in the two months after the former president was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) is on the House Task Force on the assassination attempt and said Sunday that the latest proves the attack in Butler was not an ‘isolated incident.’
‘As I’ve said before, the July 13th assassination attempt was not an isolated incident that we can take our time investigating as domestic and foreign threats are ongoing,’ Waltz wrote on X.
He added: ‘As a member of the Assassination Task Force, I expect the Secret Service to brief us this week.’
Trump’s golf club is just five miles from his residence at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach and is where the former president is often spotted golfing when he is not on the campaign trail.
The Palm Beach Sheriff’s Department held a press conference Sunday afternoon to provide updates on the shooting and revealed images of the suspect’s backpack, GoPro camera and AK-47 rifle left at the scene.
‘Nothing will slow me down,’ Trump wrote in a statement. ‘I will NEVER SURRENDER!’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk