3 days Ago
Topline The suspect arrested in connection with the apparent “attempted assassination” Sunday at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida has been identified by multiple news outlets as Ryan Wesley Routh. Law enforcement personnel investigate the area around Trump International Golf Club after an ..
. [+] apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida. Key Facts According to posts from his now-deleted X account, Routh, 58, wrote about his willingness to “VOLUNTEER AND FIGHT AND DIE” for Ukraine after Russia invaded the country in 2022.
In 2023, the New York Times interviewed Routh in a piece about U.S. volunteers in Ukraine, where he claimed to have spent several months in the country.
Routh also told the Times he was seeking to recruit former Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban to fight alongside the Ukrainians. He is originally from Greensboro, North Carolina, where he worked as a roofing contractor, but moved to Hawaii in 2018 and operated a shed-building business with his son there, the Associated Press reported . Citing public records, the Washington Post reported Routh lived in the Kaaawa on Oahu with a woman named Kathleen Shaffer.
Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here . What Do We Know About Routh’s Support For Ukraine? According to the New York Times , Routh planned to recruit former Afghan soldiers and use fake passports purchased in Pakistan to help move them to Ukraine.
It is unclear if Routh acted on this plan, but a former Afghan soldier cited by the Times said he had been contacted and was open to fighting in Ukraine if it allowed him to leave Iran, a country he was staying in illegally. Shaffer, who reportedly lived with Routh, ran a GoFundMe for Ukraine’s International Volunteer Center in 2022, where she identified him as her “fiance.” On the fundraiser page, which was taken down Sunday night, Shaffer wrote Routh traveled to Kyiv in April 2022 and planned to stay there for 90 days.
Shaffer also mentions Routh arranged for the “delivery of 120 drones to the front lines,” although it is unclear if these were funded by the $1,865 raised by her on GoFundMe. Crucial Quote Routh appears to have jointly authored and self-published an e-book on Amazon with Shaffer about “Ukraine's Unwinnable War” and the “Fatal Flaw of Democracy.” In the book, Routh laments about Ukraine not getting adequate support from world leaders and even asks “Why has Putin not been assassinated?” The book makes several mentions of Trump, and in a section about Iran, Routh writes he must take some blame for electing a president “that ended up being brainless” before adding: “You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of the deal.
” What Have Routh’s Family And Friends Said? In a statement shared with CNN , the suspected gunman’s son, Oran Routh, described him as a “loving and caring father, and honest, hardworking man.” Routh’s son added he doesn’t know what happened in Florida and hopes “things have just been blown out of proportion” because the man he knows would not “do anything crazy, much less violent.” Further Reading Trump Safe After ‘Attempted Assassination’—Suspect Identified (Forbes).
