The American who tried to kill Trump traveled to Ukraine and demanded help for Kyiv against Russia

The son of the man reportedly accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump on his Florida golf course on Sunday has said his father travelled to Ukraine and volunteered to provide what the son called “humanitarian” aid to Ukrainian troops, The Guardian reports.

A source with direct knowledge of the investigation confirmed to The Guardian that the suspect in the assassination attempt on Trump is 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, although law enforcement has not officially named him and there has been no immediate indication of a motive.

His son, Oran Raut, has repeatedly said he had no immediate opportunity to speak to his father or receive information about the allegations against him, so he did not want to speak on his behalf.

But he also described his father as a man passionate about Ukrainian causes, The Guardian notes.

“My dad was there and he saw people fight and die,” the younger Routt said during a brief phone conversation when asked about his father. “He tried to make everything cool and everything was not cool.”

Referring to the former president, who days earlier in a presidential debate did not answer whether he wanted Ukraine to win the conflict against Russia, Oran Raut said: “Meanwhile, this guy sits at his damn desk and does nothing.”

A review of Twitter/X posts linked to Ryan Routh’s account also shows that the American was clearly “into” the idea of ​​helping Ukraine. Two posts on the account from August 2023 were dedicated to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. One of them said that Routh was in Kyiv and wanted to set up a tent city for foreigners in a local park in the hopes that it would encourage more people from abroad to “bring in more support and equipment.”

Another post suggested that Zelensky should ask the US Congress to put all US troops on paid leave “so they can fight as civilians in Ukraine.”

A third post from December also expressed concern about the situation in Haiti, where massive civil unrest is taking place.

As The Guardian recalls, Trump mentioned Ukraine and Haiti in his recent debate with Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party's candidate for the White House on November 5.

On the latter country, the Republican candidate would say only that he would like Ukraine’s conflict with Russia to “end.” But he stopped short of saying he would like Ukraine to win, renewing fears that a second Trump presidency could withhold military support for those defending that country, The Guardian notes.

Asked what he would say to his father if he could talk to him, Oran Raut replied: “I know the conversation doesn’t work, but we still need to stick to it.”

He then politely excused himself and walked away from the conversation to try to find out more information about his father's arrest on Sunday.

In an interview with CNN Sunday, Oran Rout also called Ryan a "loving and caring father" and an "honest, hard-working man."

“I don’t know what happened in Florida, and I hope it’s just blown out of proportion because from what little I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like the person I know did anything crazy, much less violent,” he said.

Online records show a man with the same name and age as Ryan Routh is registered to vote in North Carolina and lists his party affiliation as Democratic. Those records show he last voted in the North Carolina presidential primary in March.

However, many on the X platform noted that the political views espoused by the account under Raut’s name were not exclusively Democratic. The account talked about voting for Trump in 2016 and expressed support for the White House ticket of unsuccessful Republican presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley.

The account's final post was addressed to Harris, and was published between the failed July 13 assassination of Trump at a political rally in Pennsylvania and her succession as Democratic leader after the president decided to end his reelection campaign. The post said Harris and Biden were to visit two wounded concertgoers and attend the funeral of a third rallygoer killed in the shooting before the assailant was killed by a Secret Service sniper.

“Show the world what compassion and humanity are,” the post read.

The suspect reportedly stuck the barrel of an assault rifle through a fence in a wooded area near the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday afternoon.

Trump was playing golf there at the time. The agent spotted the gun and fired, forcing the suspect to flee before he was arrested in a neighboring county.