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In the hours following the second failed attempt on former president Donald Trump‘s life, more details about would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh have emerged, painting a picture of fanatical pro-Ukraine zealot with ties to the United States national security apparatus.
Routh, a 58-year old Greeensboro, North Carolina native with a residence and business in Hawaii, set up a sniper’s nest outside of the fifth hole of the Trump International Golf Club, and was within 500 yards of the former president when a U.S. Secret Service advance team member noticed the barrel of his rifle and began firing on his position.
It remains unclear how Routh knew Trump would be playing golf at the Trump International course on Sunday – as the former president’s golf schedule is only disclosed to his security detail and top staffers for precisely such security reasons.
Cell phone records obtained by investigators after the shooting indicated Routh was in his shooting position for 12 hours before he was noticed by secret service agents.
A federal indictment filed the morning after the shooting accused Routh of illegally possessing an SKS style scoped 7.62×39 rifle. Routh became ineligible to own a firearm after being convicted of illegally possessing a machine gun following a 2002 standoff with North Carolina police.
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Images of the crime scene show Routh was also in possession of makeshift ballistic shield constructed of ceramic plate armor hung on the golf course’s chain link fence.
Routh wasn’t struck by any of the rounds fired by the Secret Service team, and fled the scene in a black Nissan X-terra SUV – which was identified by an eyewitness who described both Routh and the vehicle to law enforcement personnel.
Martin County Sheriff‘s deputies apprehended Routh after he had traveled north of the West Palm Beach golf course for approximately thirty minutes.
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BREAKING: New body camera video shows the moment Ryan Routh was taken into custody by law enforcement. pic.twitter.com/QNuPX79rPM
— Wired_In (@GetWired_In) September 16, 2024
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Martin County sheriff William D. Snyder later convened a press conference, and asked wether Routh was “part of a conspiracy?”
“How does a guy from not here get all the way to Trump International, realize that the president, former president of the United States, is golfing, and is able to get a rifle in that vicinity?” Snyder asked.
“If he is a lone gunman, President Trump is that much safer because we have him,” Snyder continued. “But if he is part of a conspiracy, this whole thing really takes on a very ominous tone.”
Martin’s concerns that Routh didn’t act alone certainly warrant investigation, as the would-be assassin was involved in efforts to transport American-trained Afghani soldiers to fight in Ukraine. Routh’s efforts were chronicled in The New York Times by reporter Thomas Gibbons-Neff.
Routh “was seeking recruits from among Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban.”
When Gibbons-Neff spoke with Routh in Mark of 2023 “he had compiled a list of hundreds of Afghans spread between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan whom he wanted to fly, somehow, to Ukraine.”
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At the time of the interview Routh was in Washington D.C, where he reportedly had planned for a two-hour meeting with some congressmen about Ukraine.”
Gibbons-Neff was unable to confirm whether any such meeting occurred.
It has been confirmed that Routh flew to Ukraine, where he attempted to join the International Legion of foreign fighters, but was allegedly rejected due to his age and lack of military experience.
While in Kyiv, Routh was pictured with White House executive chef José Andrés, whose Washington D.C. based NGO World Central Kitchen delivers meals to humanitarian disasters areas throughout the globe. According to watchdog group Influence Watch World Central Kitchen “received $9,443,218 in grants and contributions” after Andrés “lobbied Congress to enact legislation that would benefit World Central Kitchen by passing the FEMA Empowering Essential Deliveries (FEED) Act.”
Andrés has made multiple social media posts criticizing Trump in recent days, and has yet to publicly address his ties to the latest would be-assassin.
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As of this writing, a bevy of independent journalists (and seemingly not a single mainstream media outlet) are investigating Routh’s twitter connection with X user @mllesookim – a.k.a. Soo Kim.
The profile was one of the first users followed by Routh’s now defunct account, which followed less than 100 users at the time of the attempted assassination. It has been reported that Soo’s now-restricted account (only accepted users can see his posts) followed Routh’s account.
The unverified account’s biography lists Kim as “ex-CIA.” Kim is currently employed by the RAND Corporation, a U.S. policy think tank used to advance the interests of the United States State Department on the global stage.
Kim is also employed by NKNews, whose author biography describes her as “a former CIA North Korea analyst, focusing on the country’s leadership, nuclear proliferation and propaganda analysis” who was “a 2015 National Security Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.”
Kim has given interviews on her desire to reset the United States’ relationship with North Korea to the “pre-Trump Era.”
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CIA's Soo Kim, an alleged associate of assassin Ryan Routh, is also a @Bloomberg analyst who wanted to revive tensions on the Korean peninsula. Hoping for a return to the 'pre-Trump' (2016) era. https://t.co/lE2PgBvBFW pic.twitter.com/J0a6a697JU
— Decentralise Party (@DecentraliseP) September 16, 2024
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Democrat presidential candidate turned Trump endorsee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – himself no stranger to the “in-house drive by” – has spoken extensively about the commercial interests of asset management monoliths in the Ukraine War.
Kennedy characterized the billions of dollars of loans extended to Ukraine by the United States government – including GOP leader Mitch McConnell – as a way to transfer Ukraine’s land and wealth into the hands of multi-national corporations.
“Mitch McConnell was asked ‘can we really afford to send $113 billion to Ukraine,'” Kennedy said. “He said ‘don’t worry, its not really going to Ukraine, its going to Ukraine defense manufacturers.'”
“So it’s a money laundering scheme.” Kennedy alleged, before asking “who do you think owns all of those firms?”
“Yeah, Blackrock.”
Blackrock is the world’s largest asset manager, with $10 trillion in assets under management as of the end of 2023. The firm has significant ownership stakes in many of the firms that collectively comprise the American Military industrial complex, and has controlling interests in numerous media conglomerates.
“So Tim Scott during the Republican debate said ‘don’t worry, it’s not a gift to Ukraine, its a loan,'” Kennedy added.
Kennedy said officials don’t expect the loans to be repaid with cash, but that they were created because they are collateralized with Ukraine’s land, which sits atop Europe’s most productive farmland and trillions of dollars of natural resources and rare Earth minerals.
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Few people understand what the war in Ukraine means for big business. It’s not just the weapons and reconstruction contracts. Ukraine’s vast agricultural lands—among the most fertile in the world—are up for grabs, and American companies like BlackRock are at front of the line. pic.twitter.com/bOa6swCXn4
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) January 7, 2024
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“What are the loan conditions that we impose on them?” Kennedy asked “Ukraine has to put all of its government-owned assets up for sale to multinational corporations, including all of its agricultural land – the biggest single asset in Europe – In Ukraine, theres been 1,000 years of war fought over that land.”
“500,000 ukranian kids have died to keep that land, to keep that farmland as a part of Ukraine. They almost certainly didn’t know about this loan condition.”
According to Kennedy the Ukrainian government has “already sold 30 percent of” the land to Dupont, Cargill and Monsanto.
“Who do you think owns all of those companies?” he asked. “Yeah… Blackrock. In December, president Biden gave out the contract to rebuild Ukraine, and who do you think got that contract? Yeah… Blackrock.”
President Trump has promised to bring a swift end to the war in Ukraine should he win in November.
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Coincidentally, Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who attempted to assassinate Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania two months ago, was featured in a 2022 Blackrock advertisement.
Crooks’ nearly successful attempt to take Trump’s life also raised a number of (still unanswered) questions about who may have helped facilitate the assassination.
Crooks, a recent high school graduate with no background in explosive ordinances, allegedly had a working explosive device in his car as well as a remote detonator – and had exchanged encrypted communications with a still unnamed individual overseas.
U.S. senator Richard Blumenthal criticized the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) stonewalling of a congressional investigation into the Butler shooting.
“I think they (the American people) also ought to be appalled and astonished by the failure of the Department of Homeland Security to be more forthcoming, to be as candid and frank, as it should be to them in terms of providing information,” Blumenthal said.
The American people shouldn’t expect much better from the investigation into the second attempt on Trump’s life, which is being led by Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) special agent Jeffrey Veltri, who according to congressional whistleblower testimony was compelled by FBI director Christopher Wray to remove “adamantly and vocally anti-Trump” social media posts prior to his promotion to special agent in charge of the Miami field office.
Veltri is reported to have overseen efforts to suspend agents’ security clearances if he deemed them to be a “right-wing radical.”
Just this evening Veltri informed the public that Routh was the subject of a “previously closed 2019 tip” alleging (correctly it seems) that he was a felon in possession of a firearm.
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Would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh has been on the FBI's radar since 2019 as a felon with a firearm.
— Eddie (@Eddies_X) September 16, 2024
PS: Gun laws don't stop criminals! pic.twitter.com/2l7FiWyCCI
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Will Veltri follow the facts of this investigation wherever they lead?
Will he wield the awesome powers bestowed upon him by the federal government to figure out how Routh knew Trump would be golfing at the International on Sunday?
Will he determine whether Routh received marksmanship training while in Kyiv?
I wouldn’t advise anyone to hold their breath. I would, however, bet that Trump will be the victim of continued assassination attempts so long as he threatens the interests of the monolithic corporate-government conglomerate that’s assumed control of the governments of the western world in the post-war era.
Those who oppose this fascistic faction better have a back-up plan beyond Trump. The former president has survived two assassination attempts so far, but there’s no guarantee he will survive a third…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
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20 comments
An anti-Russia, pro-Ukraine, nut job? Sounds like some who post regularly on here.
Another MAGA crazy tried to kill Trump again…
Yawn, as JD Vance said, it’s just a fact of life in America now.
Trump is fine and spending time with his new “adviser” Laura Loomer. Apparently a lot of close, one on one time.
Do some more research. He donated to ACTBLUE, a democrat nonprofit organization 19 times in the past since voting for Trump in 2016. People who make insensitive comments are the problem in this country.
Yes, Trump and jd Vance, who constantly make insensitive comments, are the problem in this country.
Thank you for making that important point.
He voted for Trump.
Try again. MAGA is full of violent, unstable, terrorists.
You need to look in the mirror and the people around you. It’s a cult.
He wanted to vote for Republicans this year. Full stop.
He was a never-Trump Republican. Accept it.
A felon and fraud who incites violence from his followers and then gets thousands of them jailed gets threatened by one of his unstable, violent followers?
Just a ‘fact of life’ for MAGA world!
Don’t worry! Trump will do or say something so insane and stupid in the next several hours that everyone will forget about this latest ‘fact of life’ situation.
I just listened to a two-minute montage of democrats encouraging violence against Trump and republicans and you really are blaming Trump?? God-forbid if something happens to Kamala, you’ll be flipping out if someone makes similar comments.
Oddly, this guy appears to be a genuine Trump hater despite other poster’s assertions. He’s also yet another self deluded nut job.
“He’s also yet another self deluded nut job.”
Kind of what I would expect drove him to vote for Trump in the first place. Instead of him being loyal to the cult though, he branched off as a free agent loon. At best his support of Vivek/Nikki is indicative of him being a never-Trump Republican.
Ultimately though he’s nothing different than a lot of people living in MAGAland. Blind, slavish devotion to a cause they’ve fully absorbed into their identity, to the point where it has become a danger to others and detrimental to themselves at the same time. Maybe most MAGAts don’t point guns at people but their support of a wannabe dictator/strong man/fascist arguably has even more potential for destruction of life.
Ultimately everything happening today is what happens when bad actors pervert freedoms like speech and press to pump out nonstop propaganda and lies to warp peoples’ minds. There were plenty of thinkers who warned us of things like this, but here we are.
A trump hater who voted fur Trump?
Y’all can’t tell heads from tails anymore.
Trump and his non-stop flow of lies (mixed with years and years of Russian programming) have left you unable to make any sense to normal people.
Next thing you know, you’ll be saying Democrats are the ones spewing hateful, racist and violent rhetoric. Y’all have been gaslit that badly.
He is a disillusioned former Trump supporter. He voted for Trump in 2016. If you invite violent crazies into your cult, you better not disappoint them.
The Trumper pipe bomber, Jan 6th, two assassination attempts… MAGA is full of terrorists. We need to lock down former Trump supporters until we figure out what’s going on.
One of the best news stories I have read on FITS. Thanks, Dylan Nolan.
Oh no.
You get your “news” from this political gossip blog?
Yikes!
“White House executive chef José Andrés”
When Opie grows up maybe he will discover “facts”.
“I would, however, bet that Trump will be the victim of continued assassination attempts so long as he threatens the interests of the monolithic corporate-government conglomerate that’s assumed control of the governments of the western world in the post-war era.”
Christ on a cracker, Opie, Trump is the king of the “monolithic corporate-government conglomerate”
Assassination attempts will continue as more disgruntled former supporters see the emperor with no clothes.
The idea that Trump would be against a system he fully benefits from is pretty damn funny.
That Tenet money sure is nice, all it requires is putting on some clown shoes.
Excellent piece.
Well-written and researched article.
Great article. Only bad thing about it is all the liberal nut jobs spreading lies in the comments.