Man who appeared intent on killing Trump wrote a book urging Iran to assassinate the ex-president

KAAAWA, Hawaii (AP) — Ryan Wesley 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 Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and the “tremendous blunder” of leaving the Iran nuclear deal.

Routh wrote that he once voted for Trump and must take part of the blame for the "child that we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless.”

Routh, 58, was arrested Sunday after authorities say he stalked the GOP presidential nominee as he golfed in West Palm Beach, Florida, with an SKS-style rifle in an apparent assassination attempt thwarted by the Secret Service.

Through his voluminous online footprint, public records, news interviews and videos, a picture emerged of Routh as a man with a criminal past, plenty of outrage and views ranging from the left to the right, including support for Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, Nikki Haley and Trump.

Voter records show he registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina in 2012, most recently voting in person during the state’s Democratic primary in March.

Routh also made 19 small donations totaling $140 since 2019 through ActBlue, a political action committee that distributes donations to Democratic candidates, according to federal campaign finance records.

In a tweet in June 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd, Routh said then-President Trump could win reelection by issuing an executive order to prosecute police misconduct. However, in recent years, his posts appear to have soured on Trump, and he expressed support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

“DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose,” he wrote on X in April in support of Biden.

In July, following the assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, a post on Routh’s account urged Biden and Harris to visit those wounded in the shooting and attend the funeral of the firefighter who was killed.

“Trump will never do anything for them,” Routh wrote.

In his book, listed on Amazon and viewed by the AP, Routh noted, “I get so tired of people asking me if I am a Democrat or Republican as I refuse to be put in a category.”

The world would be better if it were run by women, he wrote in the book that has links to his website and X account, because “it seems that the totality of the world’s problems revolve around men with massive insecurity and childlike intelligence and behavior.”

He posted frequently on social media about Ukraine and other conflicts, and had a website seeking to raise money and recruit volunteers to fight for Kyiv. A photo of the wiry, wild-haired Routh on his site shows him smiling, wearing a T-shirt and jacket adorned with U.S. flags.

“This is about good versus evil,” Routh said in a video circulating online. And in a tweet, he said, “I am going to fight and die for Ukraine.”

Video shot by the AP showed Routh at a small demonstration in Kyiv’s Independence Square in April 2022, two months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of the country.

A placard he was holding said: “We cannot tolerate corruption and evil for another 50+ years. End Russia for our kids.”

That same day, he also visited a makeshift memorial to “Foreigners killed by Putin.”

But Routh never served in the Ukrainian army or worked with its military, said Oleksandr Shahuri of the Foreigners Coordination Department of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command.

Shahuri told the AP that Routh periodically contacted the International Legion of Ukraine with what he described as “nonsensical ideas” that "can best be described as delusional.”

Routh appeared in a video standing in front of the U.S. Capitol and expressing frustration that Ukraine wasn’t taking more of the Afghan commandos he tried to recruit.

“They’re afraid that anybody and everybody is a Russian spy,” he told news website Semafor in 2023.

Earlier this year, he even tweeted at singers Bruno Mars and Dave Matthews to organize a “We are the World”-style effort for Kyiv. “We need an emotional tribute song for Ukraine as support stalls,” he wrote. “I have lyrics and music.”

Routh also tweeted to former basketball star Dennis Rodman, asking for help lifting sanctions against North Korea to ease tension with the country. In another, he invites a dozen protesters in Hong Kong to stay at his Hawaii home to escape a Chinese crackdown.

Routh lived most of his life in Greensboro, North Carolina, where his run-ins with law enforcement included a 2002 felony conviction for possessing explosives, detonation cord and a blasting cap, according to court records.

The News & Record of Greensboro reported that the arrest came after Routh fled from a traffic stop and held off police for three hours with “a fully automatic machine gun" at a roofing business. State records listed him as the business owner.

Court records show authorities seized the explosives and an undefined number of firearms from Routh. As part of a plea deal, Routh agreed to undergo a mental health evaluation and comply with any treatment recommendations. The documents provided to the AP by the county clerk of court on Monday do not include the results of that evaluation.

Records also show Routh was convicted of a felony count of possession of stolen goods in 2010, as well as misdemeanors including illegally carrying a concealed weapon, a hit-and-run, speeding and driving with a revoked license.

Court records from the 2010 felony case say detectives determined Routh was storing stolen building supplies and other items at his roofing business warehouse, where he was living at the time. Money from the sale of the stolen goods was used to purchase crack cocaine, according to a police affidavit used to get a search warrant.

In both the felony cases, court records show judges sentenced Routh to either probation or a suspended sentence, allowing him to escape prison time.

It was not immediately clear how Routh was able to obtain a weapon. In most states, it is generally forbidden for a person convicted of a felony to purchase or possess a firearm.

In 2018, Routh moved to the small town of Kaaawa, Hawaii, about 45 minutes outside Honolulu, to go in business with his adult son building small wooden sheds. According to his LinkedIn page, the structures would “help address the highest homelessness rate in the United States due to unparalleled gentrification.”

“All of us are tired of seeing the homeless people all over the island with nowhere to go,” he told Honolulu’s Star-Advertiser in 2019.

No one answered the door Sunday at his blue stucco house near the beach that is colorfully painted with wooden cutouts of fish. A white pickup truck with a Biden-Harris bumper sticker and a flat tire was in the driveway.

Neighbor Christopher Tam said Routh kept to himself and was respectful, cordial and kind.

“It’s just been very surprising,” Tam said. “If he did have anything to do with it, it’s very shocking to us."

Biesecker reported from Washington and Condon and Sisak reported from New York. AP writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Michael Balsamo, Colleen Long and Eric Tucker in Washington, Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed. Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York also contributed.

Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org

In this image taken from police body camera video and released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers arrest Ryan Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

In this imaged released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers arrest Ryan Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

The house of Ryan Routh is seen in Kaaawa, Hawaii, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. Routh is in police custody in connection with the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump on Sunday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)

The house of Ryan Routh is seen in Kaaawa, Hawaii, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. Routh is in police custody in connection with the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump on Sunday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)

Ryan Wesley Routh pays tribute to foreign citizens killed during Russia-Ukraine war in a central square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ryan Wesley Routh holds up a banner during a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

Ryan Wesley Routh, right, takes part in a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Man accused of trying to kill Trump wrote a book urging Iran to assassinate the ex-president

Man accused of trying to kill Trump wrote a book urging Iran to assassinate the ex-president

Ryan Wesley Routh takes part in a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday signed legislation that averts a government shutdown heading into Christmas, bringing a final close to days of upheaval in Washington after Congress passed a bipartisan budget plan just past the deadline and rejected Donald Trump's core demand in the negotiations.

The deal funds the government at current levels through March 14 and provides $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had insisted lawmakers would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to close. But the outcome at the end of a tumultuous week was uncertain after Trump had insisted the deal include an increase in the government's borrowing limit. If not, he had said, then let the closures “start now.”

Johnson's revised plan was approved 366-34, and it was passed by the Senate by a 85-11 vote after midnight. By then, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations.

“There will be no government shutdown,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Johnson, who had spoken to Trump after the House vote, said the compromise was "a good outcome for the country” and that the president-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.”

The final product was the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open. The difficulties raised questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry Republican colleagues, and work alongside Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who was calling the legislative plays from afar.

The House is scheduled to elect the next speaker on Jan. 3, 2025, when the new Congress convenes. Republicans will have an exceedingly narrow majority, 220-215, leaving Johnson little margin for error as he tries to win the speaker's gavel.

One House Republican, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, criticized Republicans for the deficit spending in the bill and said he was now “undecided” about the GOP leadership. Others are signaling unhappiness with Johnson as well.

Yet Trump's last-minute debt limit demand was almost an impossible ask, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work around that pressure. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be enough support within the slim Republican majority alone to pass any funding package because many Republican deficit hawks prefer to cut the federal government and would not allow more debt.

Instead, the Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate in the new year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with the routine operations of governing.

The federal debt stands at roughly $36 trillion, and the spike in inflation after the coronavirus pandemic has pushed up the government’s borrowing costs such that debt service next year will exceed spending on national security. The last time lawmakers raised the debt limit was June 2023. Rather than raise the limit by a dollar amount, lawmakers suspended the debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025.

There is no need to raise that limit right now because the Treasury Department can begin using what it calls “extraordinary measures” to ensure that America does not default on its debts. Some estimate these accounting maneuvers could push the default deadline to the summer of 2025. But that’s what Trump wanted to avoid because an increase would be needed while he was president.

GOP leaders said the debt ceiling would be debated as part of tax and border packages in the new year. Republicans made a so-called handshake agreement to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.

It was essentially the same deal that flopped Thursday night — minus Trump’s debt demand. But it's far smaller than the original deal Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was stuffed with a long list of other bills — including much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a tougher path to becoming law.

Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who is heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency.

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick, Darlene Superville and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., talks with reporters after attending a meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., as the House works on a spending bill to avert a shutdown of the Federal Government, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

The Capitol is pictured in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrates as the Senate begins voting on the government funding bill just in time to meet the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)