Ryan Wesley Routh, who AFP spoke with in Kyiv in 2022 after traveling there to aid in the war effort, was identified by US media as a possible candidate for Donald Trump’s assassination.
The former president was golfing on Sunday when US Secret Service agents “opened fire on a gunman” holding an AK-47-style rifle close to the edge of Trump’s Florida golf course, according to US media. Routh, 58, was taken into custody.
Before being found by the police, the guy had fled the bushes he was hiding in and fled in a black automobile.
CBS and CNN reported In addition to having a lengthy criminal history, Routh was a self-employed affordable house builder in Hawaii who frequently tweeted about politics and current affairs, occasionally criticizing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Routh stated that he supported Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion.
“I am prepared to take a plane to Krakow, travel to the Ukrainian border, volunteer, and risk my life in battle… In March 2022, Routh remarked, “Can I be the example We must win?” in an X post, according to the New York Times, which also had an interview with him.
While Routh was participating in a protest in favor of Ukrainians imprisoned in the port city of Mariupol, AFP conducted an interview with him in Kyiv around the end of April 2022.
“Putin is a terrorist, and he needs to be ended, so we need everybody from around the world to stop what they are doing and come here now,” he stated to AFP at the time.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the US has been a steadfast supporter of that country.
Either Trump, who declined to clarify during a debate earlier this week whether he wanted Kyiv to win the war, or Vice President Kamala Harris, who has stated she will maintain his policies of supporting Ukraine, will take over as President Joe Biden’s successor in January.
