by John Reed and Christopher Miller
Ryan Routh, the man named in multiple media reports as a suspect in an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump on Sunday, was one of thousands of foreign volunteers who headed to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
But on arrival in the Polish border town of Medyka, he turned up at the office of the Ukrainian international legion only to be rejected. “They said ‘You’re 56, you’re old and you have no experience’,” Routh, speaking from Hawaii, told the Financial Times in an interview last year. “So why don’t you recruit and co-ordinate?”
On Sunday, law enforcement officials detained a man who they said had been hiding in bushes bordering the Trump International Golf Club in Florida. They found an AK-47 style rifle with a scope, two backpacks and a GoPro camera in the bushes. US and international media have widely identified the man as Routh.
The 58-year-old’s previous views and political activity are now being examined for clues as to possible motivation in any attack on the US presidential candidate.
After his rejection by Ukrainian forces, Routh, who…
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