Ryan Routh portrayed himself online as a man who built housing for homeless people in Hawaii, tried to recruit fighters for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, and described his support and then disdain for Donald Trump – even urging Iran to kill him.
“You are free to assassinate Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran in an apparently self-published book in 2023, Ukraine’s Unwinnable War, which described the former president as a “fool” and “buffoon” for both the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots and the “tremendous blunder” of leaving the Iran nuclear deal.
The 58-year-old was arrested on Sunday after authorities say he stalked the Republican Party presidential nominee as he golfed in West Palm Beach, Florida, with an AK-47-style rifle in an apparent assassination attempt thwarted by the Secret Service.
Three officials who identified Routh spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the ongoing investigation and search for a motive.