Old interview emerges showing Donald Trump’s would-be ‘assassin’ Ryan Wesley Routh discussing efforts to support Kyiv while claiming he fought in Ukraine

A recently resurfaced interview with Donald Trump’s would-be assassin reveals he discussed his efforts to support Kiev and traveled to Ukraine after claiming the war with Russia was simply a matter of good versus evil.

Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect in a possible assassination attempt near Trump’s golf club on Sunday, was interviewed by Newsweek Romania in 2022, in which he expressed his dissatisfaction with the way world leaders were handling the conflict.

“It’s crazy that we have a leader of a country who doesn’t understand the concept of selflessness, generosity and kindness, and the basic moral values ​​that people need today… I’m amazed.”

‘We must stand up for humanity, for human rights, for all that is good in the world.

‘Why world leaders don’t send troops is a mystery to me.

‘We’re going to have to choose new leaders next time who have the backbone and the courage to say, hey, we’re not going to tolerate this kind of behavior.

“Doesn’t the world care? That’s the feeling I struggle with every day.”

He also spoke to Newsweek about his motivation to help Ukraine fight Vladimir Putin’s forces. Routh, a former construction worker from Greensboro, North Carolina, spent several months in Ukraine in 2022.

“The question of why I’m here… to me, a lot of other conflicts are gray, but this conflict is absolutely black and white,” Routh told Newsweek.

‘My original goal was to come and fight. All of us, from the entire planet, should be motivated to support the Ukrainian army, but I am 56 years old and have no military experience, so I am not an ideal candidate to actually fight.

“So plan B was to come to Kiev and promote the idea that many more people would come and join the International Legion. We need thousands of people here to fight alongside the Ukrainians.”

Routh also posted a video of himself in Ukraine in 2022 claiming to have helped soldiers mobilize the International Legion, Ukraine’s military unit for foreign volunteer fighters.

“I am ready to fly to Krakow and go to the border with Ukraine to volunteer, fight and die,” he wrote X weeks after the Russian invasion.

In video footage posted online, Routh explains his role to those wondering why he traveled to the war-torn country.

“Most people wonder what I do in Ukraine. This is a center to help people who come from other countries to have a location, someone to talk to, like a greeting committee to get them to the location where they need to be,” he said, wearing a stars-and-stripes scarf around his neck.

“We help foreigners to be as useful as possible, to maximize their potential. Everyone here is self-sufficient. Everyone is struggling for money to earn fuel. Any support would be greatly appreciated,” he pleaded.

Routh, who had no military experience, outlined his plan to recruit fighters by moving Afghan soldiers, in some cases illegally from Pakistan and Iran, into Ukraine. At the time, he said dozens of people had expressed interest.

“We can probably buy some passports through Pakistan, since it’s such a corrupt country,” he said in an interview at the time.

Routh wrote in his profile bio on the messaging app Signal: “Citizens must change this war and prevent future wars.”

Shortly after the war began, Routh sent an X message to Elon Musk, writing, “I would like to buy a missile from you. I want to load it with a nuclear warhead for Putin’s bunker in the Black Sea to kill him. Please give me a price.”

Routh was so dedicated to the war effort in Ukraine that he even helped mow the grass on Independence Square in Kiev with a pair of scissors.

Despite Routh’s push to help Kiev defeat the Russians, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned the apparent assassination attempt and said there is no place for political violence.

“I am glad to hear that Donald Trump is safe and sound. I wish him and his family all the best. It is good that the suspect of the attempted murder was quickly captured. This is our principle: the rule of law comes first and political violence has no place anywhere in the world,” the Ukrainian leader said on X.

The resurfaced Newsweek interview comes after Secret Service agents opened fire on Routh yesterday after witnessing Routh aim a rifle through a fence along Trump’s private golf club in West Palm Beach, just a few hundred yards from the former president.

The incident came exactly two months after another assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The FBI described it as an attempted assassination of the GOP candidate.

Routh had voted for Trump over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in 2016, but in 2019 he began making small donations to Democratic candidates, according to The Time.