© Sebastian Leber
Assassination Attempt on Trump: How I Met Ryan Wesley Routh, The Guy Who Tried to Shoot The Former President
Our author interviewed the suspect two years ago. Here, he describes what Ryan Wesley Routh was like back then and why the Ukrainian army has rejected him.
Von
When I first met Ryan Wesley Routh, he was wearing a T-shirt smeared with blue and red paint, along with a US flag as a neckerchief. He was standing at the square in front of the famous St. Sophia Cathedral in downtown Kyiv, appearing pleasant and, at the start of our conversation, quite reasonable, until he eventually said, „We need to wipe Moscow off the map.“
Like most Germans, this Monday morning I learned about the trump assassination attempt. A man had been arrested in the US state of Florida for hiding in a bush at Donald Trump’s golf course and attempting to shoot the former president with an assault rifle. However, I was probably more surprised than most other people because I had once interviewed the suspect.
In mid-May 2022, about three months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Tagesspiegel sent me to the Ukrainian capital to report on the situation. I witnessed how Kyiv’s cityscape had changed and I conducted many interviews. In front of St. Sophia Cathedral, the first thing that caught my eye was a monument covered in a pile of sandbags for protection. On its back, I saw many small flags from different countries. Ryan Wesley Routh had placed those flags there. The then 56-year-old was immediately willing to talk to me.
Ryan Wesley Routh near the famous St. Sophia Cathedra
© Sebastian Leber
Routh told me he would have preferred to fight on the frontlines in Ukraine. Back home in the US he had bought himself a bulletproof vest and a helmet so he could join the Ukrainian army in their fight against Putin’s soldiers. „We got a fucking war to fight,“ he told me.
We need to wipe Moscow off the map before Putin wipes Kyiv off the map.
Ryan Wesley Routh
He said he was from North Carolina but lived in Hawaii. He also pointed out his German roots. Routh knew on the day of the invasion that he wanted to fight in this war. Still, it took him a few weeks to sort out his affairs.
However, it turned out that he was never going to fight since the Ukrainian army rejected him. According to Routh, the reason was his age and his lack of military training. Routh was disappointed by this turn of events – especially because he owned numerous firearms which he regularly practiced shooting with. Nevertheless, he accepted his rejection.
Routh said he might have been able to join one of the paramilitary groups as „they take almost anyone.“ However, the precondition was to be fluent in Ukrainian which he was not.
Rryan Wesley Routh lived in a dorm in the local youth hostel
Since Routh could not be part of the war as he originally had planned, he needed to change plans. He now regularly stood in front of the monument at the square offering himself as a contact point for other volunteers. He helped recently arrived foreigners with accommodation and gave them the phone numbers of members of the Ukrainian so they could apply. According to him, he had already referred 30 to 40 foreigners to various units.
Back then, Routh said he wasn’t regularly following the news as he lived in a hostel dormitory in Kyiv, costing him 20 US dollars a week, without proper television.
As engaged and committed as he initially seemed to be, during the interview it became clearer and clearer that Routh had fanatical tendencies. Especially his statement that he not only wanted to defend Ukraine but kill as many Russians as possible, including civilians, left me disturbed. In his view, the Ukrainian army was not straightforward enough. The fact that they aimed to protect the lives of their soldiers and foreign fighters did not make any impression on Routh.
At this point, I was glad that Routh was only lurking around downtown instead of fighting at the front lines, possibly even having command authority.
Routh said, the Russians could try to attack him
Routh was also angry about the fact that the number of foreign volunteers that had joined the war against Russia wasn’t as high as he wanted it to be. The 50 flags he had placed on the back of the monument represented the 50 home states from which volunteers originated. „There should be 190 flags“, he said. I remember the exact wording because I recorded the conversation.
A banner written by Rryan Wesley Routh
© Sebastian Leber TSP
On his T-Shirt, he had painted a red cross considering himself a target for the Russians. They should feel free to try to shoot him, he said. He was no „pussy.“
He was convinced other countries allied with Ukraine should send their armies to fight with Ukraine but too many heads of state and government were afraid of Putin.
Once, Routh temporarily fled Kyiv because he had a feeling that Putin would launch nuclear bombs at the city. He got on a bus and traveled 80 kilometers to another city. When the attack did not take place, he returned the next day.
Rryan Wesley Routh wanted me to spread his message
The risk of Putin using nuclear weapons still exists, he said back then. That’s why it was so important for Ukraine to strike first: „We need to wipe Moscow off the map before Putin wipes Kyiv off the map.“ In the end, it comes down to which side pulls the trigger faster, he was convinced. If Joe Biden, the British, or the Germans did not have the courage for such a decision, he could have taken over at any time: „I would pull the trigger!“
On that day in May 2022, Ryan Wesley Routh has hoped that I would publish the interview in Tagesspiegel to spread his message. Since I concluded that Routh because of his radical and in no way representable views on the matter had to suffer from some kind of mental illness I decided against publishing it.
After my return, I often wondered what Routh was doing and who he had become. Already during our talk I found myself reassured that, despite their difficult situation, the Ukrainian army was paying close attention to the fact that fanatics would not easily make their way into their ranks.
Zur Startseite
- Hawaii
- Joe Biden
- Unsere Themenseite zum russischen Angriffskrieg
- USA
- Wladimir Putin
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