Ryan Wesley Routh, the man detained in connection with the apparent assassination attempt of former U.S. President Donald Trump on Sept. 15, claimed to support Ukraine and used his social media platform to attempt to recruit Afghan soldiers to fight Russia's full-scale invasion.
The Secret Service on Sept. 15 opened fire after seeing an armed individual at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while Trump was playing golf. Trump was unharmed, and the FBI is investigating the incident as another assassination attempt against the Republican presidential candidate.
Routh, 58, was taken into custody following the incident, according to law enforcement officers. He was detained by local law enforcement on the highway and was reportedly unarmed at the time of his arrest.
Routh spoke to the New York Times (NYT) in 2023 about a scheme to recruit Afghan soldiers to fight in Ukraine. A former roofing contractor with no military experience, Routh used his Facebook account to appeal to conscripts in Afghanistan.
"Afghan Soldiers- Ukraine is somewhat interested in 3000 soldiers, so I need every soldier that has a passport to send me a copy of their passport to send to Ukraine," Routh said in one such Facebook post, according to CNN.
Shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Routh claimed on the social media platform X that he was ready to fight and die in the war against Russia.
"I AM WILLING TO FLY TO KRAKOW AND GO TO THE BORDER OF UKRAINE TO VOLUNTEER AND FIGHT AND DIE," he said.
It is unclear what actual support for Ukraine Routh provided apart from posts on social media.
Routh told the NYT that he had traveled to Ukraine in 2022 and spent several months there. He also claimed to have met with the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe to lobby for support for Ukraine. The Kyiv Independent could not confirm these claims at the time of publication.
Routh's social media history reflects a grandiose sense of his own importance in political affairs. In a post on X in 2020, he invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to his home in Hawaii, offering his services as "ambassador and liaison."
Trump was previously targeted in an assassination attempt on July 13 during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The incident sparked a wave of pro-Kremlin propaganda falsely blaming Democrats for the plot against Trump.
Routh's apparent support for Ukraine will likely further inflame Russian disinformation narratives ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Abbey Fenbert
(Updated: )
