Ryan Wesley Routh was intercepted by the Secret Service near former President Donald Trump, rifle in hand.
According to Breitbart, the apprehension of Ryan Wesley Routh by the Secret Service while armed and within proximity of Donald Trump has sparked a thorough investigation led by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Authorities found Routh approximately 400 yards from Trump’s location. Before this event, officials had issued multiple warnings concerning Routh’s potential for violence.
Nurse Chelsea Walsh, who had interacted with Routh in Kyiv, Ukraine, attempted to alert U.S. authorities on several occasions. She described encounters where Routh expressed violent intentions, prompting her to contact the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in June 2022.
During her interaction with CBP, she detailed an hour-long interview about Routh’s threats. Yet, despite multiple tips, including Walsh’s explicit warnings about Routh’s activities among Syrian refugees in Ukraine in 2023, she received no replies.
In 2019, an informant prompted the FBI to investigate Routh for illegal possession of a firearm. However, the FBI closed the case soon after the informant withdrew their statements, and officials took no further action.
Following the arrest of Routh, Governor Ron DeSantis criticized the federal agency's handling of the previous warnings, leading him to initiate a state-level investigation into the matter.
Ron DeSantis expressed concerns about the federal agencies’ capacities, emphasizing that the agencies prosecuting Trump should not oversee the investigation. DeSantis asserts that the public deserves transparency regarding how an assassination attempt could occur under such oversight. Aid organizations and individual volunteers also had encounters with Routh deemed suspicious. In June 2023, Ukrainian aid forums distributed alerts cautioning others about Routh’s behavior.
Chelsea Walsh has voiced her frustration regarding the lack of follow-up on serious allegations against Routh. Despite presenting considerable evidence of Routh’s menacing behavior, officials largely ignored her concerns.
Chelsea Walsh remarked on her frightening experience stating, “Routh was among the most dangerous Americans she met during her month-and-a-half-long stint in Ukraine.” Despite detailed reports to both the FBI and Interpol that same year, “Neither Customs nor the FBI followed up with her.”
The situation escalated when authorities saw Routh with a firearm near Trump, confirming some of the worst fears previously reported by Walsh and others. This incident has highlighted potential lapses in the security measures in place to protect high-profile figures.
The FBI did receive prior warnings about Routh’s behaviors. An unnamed FBI official noted that after the 2019 tip about Routh’s illegal firearm possession, they informed the Honolulu authorities where Routh resided but subsequently closed the investigation. This incident has prompted questions about the efficiency and responsiveness of federal security agencies, especially concerning high-risk individuals with histories of threatening behavior.
This case underscores the need for a critical review of how officials manage potential threats and whether they need to take more proactive measures. Governor DeSantis’s investigation aims to uncover not only the specific failures in this case but also to potentially reform how federal agencies evaluate and act upon such threats in the future.
