U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the State Department, and the FBI were all aware of Donald Trump's would-be assassin, Ryan Routh. They knew he was potentially violent and mentally unstable.
It was his time in Ukraine that raised the most warning flags.
A nurse returning from Ukraine, Chelsea Walsk, told the CBP in a routine interview after returning to the United States that she had several encounters with Routh and that his threats of violence worried her. She told the interviewing agent that Routh was "among the most dangerous Americans she met during her month-and-a-half-long stint in Ukraine," according to the Wall Street Journal.
Walsh kept a notebook containing names of people she met who were "predatory" or dangerous. ‘Of all the people on there, Ryan Routh should be number one,’” Walsh told the Journal, who reviewed her notebook.
Related: MSNBC Columnist Says Routh Was Justified in Wanting to Take a Shot at Trump
Like almost all would-be and actual assassins, Routh saw himself in heroic terms. That's why his politics are all over the map, supporting Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Ideology was not important to him. All that mattered was how he could play out his fantasies as someone who was consequential instead of the drab, colorless man he actually is.
Routh’s behavior had been flagged to the FBI in the past, though not in connection to Ukraine. A tipster told the FBI in 2019 that Routh had a firearm despite being a felon, but when questioned further wouldn’t verify providing the information, an FBI official said Monday. The bureau passed the information onto authorities in Honolulu, where Routh was living at the time, and closed the investigation.
Routh was convicted of several firearms charges, including possessing a "weapon of mass destruction." He was involved in a standoff in North Carolina in 2002 when he was pulled over by a cop who knew he did not have a valid license. He fled the scene and ended up barricading himself in his roofing company office. After Routh refused to surrender, police broke in and found him with a machine gun.
Routh was convicted of felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction and several misdemeanors, including carrying a concealed weapon, hit and run, resisting an officer, and driving while his license was revoked, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
It was in Ukraine that Routh appeared to begin spiraling. People connected with the effort to aid Ukraine describe a man desperate to matter.
“A crazy idiot, but no one’s really surprised. There are people like that that show up and are desperate to help and be important,” one American fighting for Ukraine told the New York Post. “And he was just one of those – just on the crazier end of things.”
One volunteer for Ukraine told the Post that Routh wasn't there to help Ukraine but to "live out a fantasy."
“A lot of the people that are here are not really here for Ukraine, they’re not really here for the war. They’re here to kind of be famous or live out a fantasy or feel like they’re a part of something,” the volunteer said.
“Ukraine for them is kind of like their chance to finally make it. I think unfortunately that for the vast majority of them, that’s not helping.”
It certainly didn't help Routh. He became a toxic presence among the foreign fighters he desperately tried to join.
“I ran into him once, he struck me as unbalanced and dangerous,” one fighter said.
Routh made several outrageous claims about what he was doing for the Ukrainian war effort, including recruiting troops for Kyiv's foreign legion.
Nurse Walsh was alarmed by Routh's growing threats against leaders.
Her view of him changed during dozens of meetings and chance encounters they had in Kyiv, she said. He talked about wanting to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, Walsh recalled, saying he also mentioned Trump and President Biden, though Walsh said she couldn’t recall if he threatened them.
When she heard in 2023 that Routh was attempting to recruit Syrian refugees to fight in Ukraine, she filed an online report with the FBI and Interpol outlining her concerns about Routh and others, she said. Neither Customs nor the FBI followed up with her, she said. The FBI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
It's doubtful that any government agency aware of Walsh's worries or anyone else's concerns about Routh could have made a difference. Still, Routh being in possession of a weapon he should never have owned raises red flags.
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