Man accused of trying to kill Trump wrote a book urging Iran to assassinate the ex-president
KAAAWA, Hawaii — KAAAWA, Hawaii (AP) — Ryan Routh portrayed himself online as a man who built housing for the homeless in Hawaii, tried to recruit fighters for Ukraine must defend itself against Russiaand described his support and then contempt for Donald Trump, even urging Iran to kill him.
“You are free to kill Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran in an apparently self-published 2023 book, “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” which described the former president as a “fool” and a “joker” for both the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and the “huge blunder” of pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.
Routh wrote that he once voted for Trump and that he had to take some of the blame for the “child we elected as our next president who turned out to be brainless.”
Routh, 58, was arrested Sunday Authorities say he stalked the Republican Party presidential candidate while he was golfing in West Palm Beach, Florida, with an AK-47-style rifle in an assassination attempt that was foiled by the Secret Service.
Three officials who identified Routh spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation or seek a motive.
Routh’s extensive online presence, public documents, news interviews and videos created a perception of him as a man with a criminal past, much outrage and shifting politics.
His more than 500 posts on X showed that his views ranged from left to right, including support for politicians such as Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard and Nicki Haley, as well as Trump.
Voter records show he registered as an independent voter in North Carolina in 2012. He recently voted in person in the state’s Democratic primary in March.
Since 2019, Routh has also made 19 small donations totaling $140 to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates, according to federal campaign finance records.
In a tweet in June 2020, after the police killing of George FloydRouth said that then-President Trump could be re-elected by issuing an executive order to prosecute police misconduct. In recent years, however, his messages appear to have backfired on Trump, and he has endorsed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the current Democratic presidential nominee.
“DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose,” he wrote on X in April in support of Biden.
In July, after the attempted assassination of Trump on a meeting in Pennsylvaniaa post on Routh’s account urged Biden and Harris to visit those injured in the shooting and attend the funeral of the fallen firefighter.
“Trump will never do anything for them,” Routh wrote. “Show the world what compassion and humanity mean.”
In his book, which is available on Amazon and has been reviewed by the AP, Routh noted: “I get so tired of people asking me if I’m a Democrat or a Republican, because I refuse to be put in a box.”
The world would be better off if women were in charge, he wrote in the book, which includes links to his website and X account, because “it seems that the totality of the world’s problems revolve around men with enormous insecurity and childlike intelligence and behavior.”
He posted regularly on social media about Ukraine and other conflicts, and he had a website to raise money and recruit volunteers to fight for Kiev. A photo of the wiry, wild Routh on his site shows him smiling, dressed in a T-shirt and jacket with American flags.
“Fight and die to stop aggression,” he posted on X about Ukraine in February 2023. “Everyone should be outraged and help.”
“This is about good versus evil,” Routh said in a video circulating online. And in a tweet, he said: “I’m going to fight and die for Ukraine.”
AP video footage shows Routh holding a small demonstration on Independence Square in Kiev in April 2022, two months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of the country.
A sign he held read: “We cannot tolerate corruption and evil for another 50+ years. End Russia for our children.” He wore a blue vest with the American flag on the back.
That same day, he also visited a makeshift monument to ‘Foreigners Killed by Putin’.
But Routh never served in the Ukrainian military and never cooperated with the military, said Oleksandr Shahuri of the Foreign Coordination Department of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command.
Shahuri told AP that Routh periodically contacted the International Legion of Ukraine with what he described as “nonsensical ideas” that “can best be described as delusions.”
Routh appeared in a video in which he stood outside the U.S. Capitol and expressed frustration that Ukraine was not taking in more of the Afghan commandos he was trying to recruit.
“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 to organize a “We are the World”-style effort for Kiev. “We need an emotional tribute song for Ukraine as support stalls,” he wrote. “I have lyrics and music.”
Routh also tweeted to former basketball player Dennis Rodman, asking for help lifting sanctions on North Korea to ease tensions with the country. In another tweet, he invited a dozen protesters in Hong Kong to stay at his home in Hawaii to escape a Chinese crackdown.
Routh lived most of his life in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he had a brush with law enforcement in 2002, including a conviction for possession of a weapon of mass destruction. Although court records do not provide details of the case, a newspaper article at the time reported that the arrest followed a three-hour armed standoff with police at a roofing company. State records listed him as the owner.
Documents also show that Routh was convicted in 2010 of a felony charge of possession of stolen property, as well as misdemeanors including illegally carrying a concealed weapon, hit-and-run, speeding and driving on a suspended license. In each case, a judge sentenced Routh to probation or a suspended sentence, allowing him to avoid prison.
It wasn’t immediately clear how Routh obtained a gun. In most states, it’s generally illegal for someone convicted of a felony to purchase or possess 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 address the highest rate of homelessness in the United States due to unparalleled gentrification.”
“We’re all tired of seeing homeless people all over the island with nowhere to go,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in 2019.
No one answered the door Sunday at his blue stucco beachfront home, colorfully painted with wooden cutouts of fish. A white pickup truck with a Biden-Harris bumper sticker and a flat tire sat in the driveway.
Neighbor Christopher Tam said Routh kept to himself and was respectful, warm and kind.
“It’s just very surprising,” Tam said. “If he had anything to do with it, it’s very shocking to us.”
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Biesecker reported from Washington, and Condon and Sisak reported from New York. AP writers Alana Durkin Richter, Michael Balsamo, Colleen Long and Eric Tucker in Washington, and Hanna Arhirova in Kiev, Ukraine, contributed.
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Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org