Man accused of trying to kill Trump wrote book calling on Iran to assassinate ex-president – ​​Action News Jax

KAAAWA, Hawaii (AP) — Ryan Wesley Routh portrayed himself online as a man who built shelters for the homeless in Hawaii, tried to recruit fighters for Ukraine must defend itself against Russiaand described his support and then his contempt for Donald Trump – even calling on Iran to kill him.

“You are free to assassinate Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran in 2023 in an apparently self-published book titled “Ukraine's Unwinnable War,” in which he called the former president a “fool” and a “buffoon” for both the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, and the “enormous mistake” of withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal.

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Routh wrote that he once voted for Trump and bears some of the blame for the “child we elected as our next president who turned out to be brainless.”

Routh, 58, was arrested on Sunday And Monday charged according to authorities say he followed The Republican presidential candidate carried an AK-47 rifle while playing golf in West Palm Beach, Florida. The attempt was apparently thwarted by the Secret Service.

Through his extensive online presence, public records, news interviews and videos, the image of Routh emerged as a man with a criminal past, a lot of outrage and views that range from left to right, including support for Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, Nikki Haley and Trump.

Voter records show that he registered as an independent voter in North Carolina in 2012 and last voted in person in the state's Democratic primary in March.

Read: 5 things you should know about the apparent assassination attempt on Trump on his golf course

According to federal campaign finance records, Routh also made 19 small donations totaling $140 since 2019 to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates.

In a tweet in June 2020, after the killing of George Floyd by the policeRouth said then-President Trump could win re-election by issuing an executive order to prosecute police misconduct. In recent years, however, his posts seem to have displeased Trump, and he has expressed support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

“DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we can’t lose,” he wrote on X in April in support of Biden.

Read: According to records, the suspect in an apparent assassination attempt camped for 12 hours in front of a golf course

In July, after the assassination attempt on Trump at a Rally in PennsylvaniaA post on Routh's account called on Biden and Harris to visit those injured in the shooting and attend the funeral of the slain firefighter.

“Trump will never do anything for them,” Routh wrote.

In his book, listed on Amazon and viewed by AP, Routh noted, “I'm so tired of people asking me if I'm a Democrat or a Republican, because I refuse to be pigeonholed.”

Read: Who is Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect in another alleged assassination attempt on Trump?

The world would be a better place if it were ruled by women, he writes in the book, which includes links to his website and his X-Account, because “it seems as if all the world's problems revolve around men with massive insecurity and childlike intelligence and behavior.”

He posted frequently on social media about Ukraine and other conflicts and ran a website where he raised funds and recruited volunteers to fight for Kyiv. A photo of the wiry, tousled-haired Routh on his website shows him smiling, wearing a T-shirt and jacket emblazoned with U.S. flags.

“This is about good versus evil,” Routh said in a video shared online. And in a tweet he wrote: “I will fight and die for Ukraine.”

Read: Man arrested after apparent assassination attempt on Trump; AP filmed in Kyiv in 2022

Video shot by AP 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.

One sign he held up read: “We cannot tolerate corruption and evil for more than 50 years. End Russia for our children.”

On the same day, he also visited a makeshift memorial to “foreigners killed by Putin.”

Read: According to the FBI, Trump was apparently the target of an assassination attempt at his golf club in Florida

But Routh has never served in the Ukrainian army or collaborated with its military, says Oleksandr Shahuri of the Foreigners Coordination Department of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command.

Shahuri told AP that Routh had been in regular contact with the International Legion of Ukraine and had presented him with “nonsensical ideas” that “can best be described as delusions.”

Routh appeared in a video standing outside the U.S. Capitol and expressing frustration that Ukraine was not accepting more of the Afghan commandos he wanted to recruit.

Read: Trump was on the square, taking a break from the campaign trail. Then the Secret Service saw a rifle

“They are afraid that everyone is a Russian spy,” he told the news website Semafor in 2023.

Earlier this year, he even tweeted to singers Bruno Mars and Dave Matthews, asking them to organize a “We are the World”-style event for Kyiv. “We need an emotional tribute song for Ukraine as support is stalling,” he wrote. “I have lyrics and music.”

Routh also sent a tweet to former basketball star Dennis Rodman, asking for help in lifting sanctions on North Korea to ease tensions with the country. In another tweet, he invited a dozen Hong Kong protesters to stay overnight at his Hawaii home to avoid a Chinese crackdown.

Routh spent most of his life in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he was convicted in 2002 of, among other things, possession of a “fully automatic machine gun.” While court records do not provide details of the case, the Greensboro News & Record reported that Routh was arrested after fleeing a traffic stop and holding up police with the gun for three hours at a roofing business. He was listed in state records as the owner of the business.

Read: Trump blames Biden and Harris' rhetoric towards him, although he himself has attacked his rivals before

The records also show that Routh was convicted in 2010 of the felony charge of possession of stolen goods and other misdemeanors, including illegally carrying a concealed weapon, hit and run, speeding and driving without a license.

According to court documents from the 2010 criminal case, investigators found that Routh was storing stolen building materials and other items at his roofing business, where he lived at the time. The money from the sale of the stolen goods was used to purchase crack cocaine, according to a police affidavit used to obtain a search warrant.

According to court records, in both cases, judges sentenced Routh to either probation or suspended sentence, which allowed him to avoid prison time.

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It was not immediately clear how Routh obtained a gun. In most states, a person convicted of a felony is generally prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm.

In 2018, Routh moved to the small town of Kaaawa, Hawaii, about 45 minutes outside of Honolulu, to start a business with his adult son building small wooden sheds. According to his LinkedIn page, the structures would “help combat the highest homelessness rate in the United States due to unprecedented gentrification.”

“We are all tired of seeing homeless people all over the island with nowhere to go,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in 2019.

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On Sunday, no one answered the door of his blue stucco house near the beach, which is brightly painted with cut-out fish. In the driveway was a white pickup truck with a Biden-Harris bumper sticker and a flat tire.

Neighbor Christopher Tam said Routh preferred to keep to himself and was respectful, warm and friendly.

“It was just very surprising,” Tam said. “If he had anything to do with it, it's a big shock to us.”

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Biesecker reported from Washington and Condon and Sisak reported from New York. AP writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Michael Balsamo, Colleen Long and Eric Tucker in Washington, Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed. Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York also contributed.

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