Suspect in Alleged Attempted Trump Assassination IDed

Ryan Wesley Routh traveled to Ukraine in 2022 to aid in the war effort
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 16, 2024 12:00 AM CDT
Police ID Suspect in Alleged Attempted Trump Assassination
Ryan Wesley Routh takes part in a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022.   (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

The suspect accused of staging an assassination attempt on Donald Trump Sunday has been identified by a law enforcement official as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii. Per the New York Times, last year, Routh gave an interview to the newspaper for an article about Americans traveling to Ukraine to volunteer in its war effort after the Russian invasion. At the time, he referred to himself as a "US citizen that's helping out," and said he'd traveled there in 2022 and had attempted to recruit Afghan soldiers as fighters as well. He said he'd also met with politicians in Washington in an attempt to bolster support for Ukraine. Routh also has a criminal record, having been arrested eight times for mostly minor offenses, Newsweek reports.

Meanwhile, President Biden said in a statement he was "relieved" Trump was OK, and Trump has been talking about the experience, in which Routh allegedly aimed an AK-47 onto the course on which the former president was golfing and was then fired on by Secret Service agents. Sean Hannity said on Fox News that Trump told him his group was at the fifth hole at the Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach when they heard gunshots and the Secret Service moved to shield him. Per Hannity, Trump joked that he was upset he wasn't able to finish his putt, because, "I was even and I had a birdie putt." Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says the state will conduct its own probe into the incident even as the FBI is also investigating, CNN reports. (More Donald Trump stories.)

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