FBI obtained tip on Ryan Wesley Routh in 2019
The alleged gunman in the second assassination attempt against Donald Trump never fired his gun and wasn’t able to establish a direct line of sight to the former president before fleeing the scene.
New bombshell information about Ryan Wesley Routh, the 58-year-old man now charged in the attempt, was disclosed by law enforcement officials in Palm Beach, Florida, one day after the attempted assassination.
It turns out Routh was well known to law enforcement and had been on the FBI‘s radar since 2019. A tip came in claiming that the convicted felon was in possession of a firearm, officials revealed at a press conference on Monday, but the tipster never confirmed the information.
FBI, Secret Service and other federal and local officials also provided an update as conspiracy theories fly about the would-be Trump assassin, saying it appears Routh was a lone wolf actor.
The would-be assassin left behind in the brush of Trump’s golf club on Sunday a loaded AK-47 Soviet-style rifle known as an SKS, two bags, a digital video camera and ceramic layered bulletproof body armor
U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe said that the suspected gunman never had a line of sight to Donald Trump and confirmed he did not fire off his rifle before he was engaged by agents on the former president’s protective detail
In a press conference, officials revealed the FBI received a tip in 2019 that Ryan Wesley Routh, a felon, was in possession of a firearm
‘We do not have information that has been acting with anyone else in present,’ the Miami FBI Field Office’s Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri told reporters when asked if the shooter acted alone.
More details were shared at the press conference on the tick tock of the afternoon where Routh fled from Trump International Golf Club after an agent engaged him with shots after spotting the muzzle of his AK-47 pointing out of shrubbery around the course where the former president was playing on Sunday.
The update included limited information discovered in the 24 hours since the incident.
‘The subject, who did not have line of sight to the former president, fled the scene,’ Acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said on Monday. ‘He did not fire or get off any shots at our agent with reports of gunfire.’
Routh was arrested 50 miles from the club after a witness saw him flee from the scene in a stolen black Nissan SUV and was able to share the license plate tag with law enforcement and later identify the suspect.
The FBI has interviewed seven witnesses so far they also disclosed.
Investigators are treating the incident as a second assassination attempt against the former president in just two months.
Officials released an image of the belonging Routh left behind at the scene on Sunday
After Trump was shot in the ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 the USSS has overhauled its handling of the 2024 presidential nominee’s security detail.
Rowe took over in an acting capacity when former Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the aftermath of the Butler attack.
He said on Monday: ‘We need to get out of a reactive model and get to a readiness model.’
‘There could be another geopolitical event that could put the United States into a kinetic conflict, or some other, some other issue that may result in additional responsibilities and protectees of the United States Secret Service,’ the acting director said.
‘We don’t have an alternative,’ Rowe continued. ‘Success – we have to have it every day. We cannot have failures. And in order to do that, we’re going to have some hard conversations with Congress, and we’re going to achieve that.’
Routh appeared in court on Monday and was charged on two counts: possession of a firearm while a convicted felon; and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Miami FBI Field Office’s Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri told reporters there is no proof to say Routh was working with anyone else – and that the agency received a tip in 2019 that he owned a gun as a convicted felon
A courtroom sketch shows a slender-statured Routh in a dark prison uniform
The accused was wearing a black prison uniform and his hands and feet were shackled for the eight-minute court appearance at the Paul G Rogers Federal Courthouse on Monday morning.
It is unclear where Routh obtained his rifle since it is not a firearm that is available for purchase in Florida and the serial number is destroyed.
Part of Routh’s rap sheet in North Carolina includes 2002 ‘weapon law violations’ and ‘terrorist threats,’ according to public records. As well as a three-hour standoff with law enforcement in North Carolina.
When Routh was 36-years-old in 2002, he was convicted for possessing a weapon of mass destruction.
He was arrested after a standoff with police where he barricaded himself inside a local roofing business in Greensboro after speeding away from a traffic stop with a firearm.
In 2019, the FBI received a tip that the convicted felon was in possession of a firearm, which is another felony.
‘I can also share with you that he was the subject of a previously closed 2019 tip to the FBI, where it was alleged he was a felon in possession of a firearm,’ Special Agent Veltri said in Monday’s press conference.
‘In following up on the tip, the alleged complainant interviewed, was interviewed and did not verify, I repeat, did not verify, providing the initial information,’ he continued. ‘The FBI passed that information to local law enforcement in Honolulu.’
The 58-year-old construction worker is from North Carolina but moved to Hawaii in recent years.
FBI field offices in Charlotte, North Carolina and Honolulu, Hawaii are tracking down and interviewing friends, family and former colleagues of Routh, according to the agency.
Rowe said of the USSS operations around Trump since the first assassination attempt: ‘Coming out of Butler, I have ordered a paradigm shift.’
