New Report Gives Update On Alleged Trump Attacker

By
Rachel Stevenson
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Well, here we go again, folks. Turns out the gunman who tried to assassinate Donald Trump over the weekend wasn’t some random lone wolf—he was a pro-Ukraine activist with a laundry list of red flags that apparently everyone ignored.

Meet Ryan Wesley Routh, a guy so erratic that other Americans flagged him to U.S. authorities during his time in Ukraine, and yet, here we are. He was taken into custody after Secret Service agents spotted him pointing a rifle through the fence at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club. What followed was a brief chase, ending with Routh’s capture after he fled the scene in a black Nissan.

Now, this isn’t Routh’s first rodeo with alarming behavior. He traveled to Ukraine shortly after Russia’s invasion in 2022, allegedly hoping to fight for the cause. But instead of becoming some heroic figure, Routh managed to spiral even further into a web of erratic, dangerous behavior. A nurse named Chelsea Walsh, who encountered him in Kyiv, was so worried about his threats of violence that she reported him to Customs and Border Protection when she returned to the U.S. in mid-2022. She even put his name at the top of her “dangerous people” list in a notebook filled with concerns about Americans she met abroad. Yet somehow, no one took enough notice to stop this guy from getting his hands on a rifle.

Routh wasn’t just a nutcase—he was well-known among volunteer aid groups in Ukraine as a fraudster, a guy who couldn’t be trusted. Sarah Adams, a former CIA officer, said he falsely claimed to be working with the Ukrainian government to recruit foreign fighters. He was so bad that people began banning him from volunteer networks and even warned the State Department about him. But, in typical fashion, no action was taken.

So, instead of being stopped, Routh continued his bizarre rampage, reportedly trying to recruit Syrian refugees to fight in Ukraine. Let’s just say his résumé of sketchy activities should have raised more than a few eyebrows before things escalated to, you know, attempted assassination.

And get this: in Ukraine, Routh was known for dyeing his hair blue and yellow (to match the Ukrainian flag) and walking around in a red, white, and blue American flag T-shirt, as if to scream, “Look at me, I’m a hero!” Meanwhile, he was putting up posters asking people to text him for ways to “help” Ukraine, and anyone gullible enough to do so—like Walsh—soon found themselves in the company of a con man with a dangerous streak. His bitterness toward Trump was no secret, either. One French man recalled Routh ranting about how furious he was that Trump was trying to negotiate with Putin instead of fully backing Ukraine. It’s no surprise that this anger spiraled into violent action.

To make matters worse, this guy was already on the FBI’s radar. In 2019, a tip came in that Routh—who was a felon—had a firearm. But when the tipster didn’t back up their claim, the FBI shrugged and passed the info along to authorities in Honolulu, where Routh lived at the time. Investigation closed. Nothing to see here. Fast forward to 2023, and after hearing Routh was up to his old tricks, Walsh tried again to alert the FBI and Interpol, filing reports about his activities. No follow-up. No action. Just more of the usual bureaucratic black hole.

And now, after the attempt on Trump’s life, Walsh has had to call the FBI tip line again. One has to wonder: how many times does someone have to scream, “This guy’s dangerous!” before anyone actually does something? Between the FBI dropping the ball, Customs apparently ignoring Walsh’s lengthy interview, and the State Department brushing off reports, it’s a miracle Trump is still walking around.

If this doesn’t scream systemic failure, what does? It’s almost as if the pro-Ukraine, anti-Trump activism gave Routh some sort of pass from serious scrutiny. Meanwhile, someone actually doing their job might’ve prevented an assassination attempt on a former U.S. president. But hey, nothing to see here, right?

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