'Weapon of mass death': Explosive details about criminal history of Trump's second suspected would-be assassin



Alleged would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh was already under indictment for possessing an explosive device when he fled from police during a traffic stop and barricaded himself inside his roofing company in December 2002, court records show.

Despite the seriousness of both offenses and Routh’s long criminal record in North Carolina, he didn’t serve any jail time as a result.

'He was rather notorious among my people.'

“Guilford County and greater Greensboro are historically very liberal,” Republican B.J. Barnes, who served as Guilford County sheriff for 24 years, told Blaze News. “Our courts here would rather plea out everyone to lesser charges than do the work of convicting real criminals.”

Routh, who faces federal and possible state charges for the Sept. 15 attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump, was indicted in October 2002 for possessing what court records said was a “weapon of mass death and destruction, a binary explosive device with a detonation cord and a blasting cap.”

Routh was first arrested on the explosives charge on April 23, 2002. He was released from custody on a $10,000 bond on April 30. At the time of that arrest, Routh was already on pretrial release in another case, court records said.

While out on bond for the explosives indictment, Routh was arrested Dec. 15, 2002, after he fled police during a traffic stop. He holed up at his roofing company and kept police at bay for three hours, local media reported at the time.

Retired Greensboro Police Sgt. Tracy Fulk told WPTV television in West Palm Beach that she pulled Routh over because she knew he did not have a valid driver’s license.

“I saw him reach toward the center of his vehicle, so I shined the light in to see what he was doing,” Fulk told the television station. “He opened the duffel bag and there was a gun in it. So I pulled my gun, started issuing commands.”

Sheriff Barnes said he never interacted with Routh, but his deputies did assist the Greensboro Police Department when Routh barricaded himself.

“He was rather notorious among my people,” Barnes said.

When he appeared in court on Dec. 18, 2002, Routh’s bond amount was increased to $100,000, and he was ordered released Dec. 18 by Superior Court Judge Peter M. McHugh. Two days later, Routh entered a plea agreement that led to dismissal of the explosives charge, court records showed. His bond was reduced to $10,000.

As part of the plea agreement, Routh was ordered to serve 60 months of probation in lieu of a 15- to 19-month jail term, court records indicate. He was ordered not to drive without a valid license, not to possess “any firearm or explosive device,” to “obtain a mental health assessment and comply with any recommended course of treatment,” and pay a $225 fine.

“As to the weapons charge, that was pled down to a concealed carry violation, and Routh got away with a wrist-slap,” Barnes said.

Court records at the time showed Routh was convicted of a series of worthless-check offenses in November 1992 and a larceny charge in December 1997. He had convictions for more than a dozen traffic offenses between November 1984 and October 2001.

Between 1998 and 2019, the state of North Carolina opened 95 criminal cases against Routh, according to online court records. That included 19 criminal charges lodged in 2002 alone, followed by 13 cases in 2010 and nine cases each in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009.

During his five years of court supervision on the explosives offense, Routh was granted permission to travel to Costa Rica from July 2-9, 2004, court records show.

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Trump dodges another assassination attempt: Secret Service under fire for security failures



The second attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump in two months has laid bare the reality his security is still not being based on a threat matrix reflective of the dangers he faces, experts say.

After Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots at Trump and a rally crowd in Butler Township, Pa., on July 13, security professionals opined that the U.S. Secret Service treated him much differently than President Joe Biden, even though his threat profile was considerably higher than that of the sitting president.

As a result, many experts and observers predicted another assassination attempt would be carried out in the coming weeks or months.

That came true around 1:30 p.m. Sept. 15 when the Secret Service spotted a rifle poking out of the bushes at the edge of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla.

'They have to move to a threat-based protective model.'

An agent opened fire on what turned out to be a sniper’s nest on the public side of the fence near the sixth green, causing alleged would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, to flee the area, the FBI and Secret Service said.

Routh was arrested about 45 minutes later in nearby Martin County, Fla.

Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said the gunman never had line of sight to former President Trump. The Secret Service discovered Routh trying to hide himself “in the wood line,” Rowe said.

“The protective methodologies of the Secret Service were effective yesterday,” Rowe said, citing a “layered approach” that had agents out ahead of Trump on the course. However, he said his department needs to shift away from being in a reactive mode into using a “readiness model.”

Rowe said “increased assets” ordered by President Joe Biden — including countersniper teams, counter-assault teams, and counter-surveillance agents — “were in place yesterday.”

At a news conference hours after the attempted assassination, however, the local sheriff confirmed Trump is not getting top-tier protection but only what the Secret Service deems “possible.”

“At this level that he is at right now, he’s not the sitting president,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said. “If he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded.”

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw addresses a news conference Sept. 16, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla.Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

“No, he’s a former President who was struck by an assassin’s bullet two months ago, and who Iran and others continue to plot against,” said U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). “Two attempts in a little over 60 days. Horrendous and unacceptable.”

United States Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said the Secret Service still has not answered even basic questions about the Butler assassination case and now faces new scrutiny.

“Yesterday's would-be Trump assassin was on the golf course for 12 hours before Secret Service ID'd him,” Hawley wrote on X. “The Butler shooter was on site long before he took his first shot. This is a dangerous pattern. Secret Service needs to tell us what's going on. And what they're doing to stop it.”

Martin County Sheriff William Snyder, whose deputies helped take Routh into custody at 2:14 p.m. Sept. 15, said Routh has no known ties to the county.

“I think we’re finding out he’s not from this area, which raises the bigger question, how does a guy from not here get all the way to Trump International, realize that the president, the former president of the United States is golfing and is able to get a rifle in that vicinity?”

The Secret Service has not been using the correct mindset when it comes to Trump’s security, one expert said.

“We’re in a situation where the threats against him are going to be higher than almost anyone, and they are still treating him like a third-rate protective responsibility,” said Tristan Leavitt, president of Empower Oversight, an educational organization dedicated to government accountability.

'The fact that the guy got away is troubling, that they weren't able to put effective fire on him.'

“They have to move to a threat-based protective model,” Leavitt said during an August Heritage Foundation forum on the Secret Service.

Jeffrey Veltri, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, said the bureau received a tip in 2019 about Routh being a felon in possession of a firearm but was not able to substantiate the tip.

Routh was convicted in 2002 of possessing a fully automatic machine gun in Guilford County, N.C., court records show.

The 2019 tip was passed by the FBI to authorities in Hawaii, where Routh was living at the time, Veltri said.

Routh has a long criminal record in North Carolina. In addition to the gun felony, he has arrests for hit-and-run, obstructing police, multiple counts of possession of stolen goods, carrying a concealed weapon, driving on a revoked license, and multiple other motor-vehicle violations.

In his 2002 gun case, Routh fled from police after being pulled over on a traffic stop, then holed up in his roofing business keeping police at bay for three hours, according to a local newspaper account at the time.

According to North Carolina court records, Routh did not serve even one night in jail for his many convictions.

Trump's suspected would-be assassin in 2002 wielded a fully automatic machine gun in 3-hour standoff with police: Reportwww.theblaze.com

Erik Prince, founder of the private security firm Blackwater, said it’s crucial that the state of Florida conduct its own comprehensive investigation.

“We have a federal system, and states have a lot more rights and a lot more power than they assert,” Prince said on "The Glenn Beck Program."

“And this is a perfect opportunity for the governor of Florida to say, ‘Enough. This nonsense stops on my watch.' And they’re going to do what they should do, a very thorough proctology, and especially dig into Routh’s electronics, anyone he’s in contact with over the last six days, six months, to figure out what the hell stimulated this guy to try this.”

Prince said he was “very troubled” that Routh was able to escape after being fired upon.

“There [are] two ballistic plates affixed to the fence — so obviously he was expecting counter fire — and his GoPro attached. Trophy hunting. He was going to be a hero of the left,” Prince said. “I am very troubled. I'm glad the Secret Service saw him first and engaged, but there [were] four rounds fired. The fact that the guy got away is troubling, that they weren't able to put effective fire on him.”

Former FBI Special Agent Steve Friend, a whistleblower who testified before the House Judiciary Committee in May 2023, said he’s troubled that the man in charge of the FBI’s West Palm Beach assassination case is a well-known Trump-hater.

Cellphone data uncovers would-be assassin's disturbing determination to attack Trump — until Secret Service opened fireRyan Wesley Routh's arrest shown on police bodycam.

Friend said Special Agent In Charge Veltri was previously deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Security Division, which he said has targeted whistleblowers for expulsion from the bureau.

“And from that post, he actually said that whistleblowers that they were looking to purge from the ranks were people who were military veterans — because he thought that they were disloyal — as well as people who attended regular religious worship ceremonies and opposed the coronavirus vaccine,” Friend said on "The Glenn Beck Program."

FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy Director Paul Abbate, and former Executive Assistant Director Jen Moore told Veltri to clean his Facebook profile “of all the anti-Trump vitriol that he publicly put out there” before he could accept a promotion to head the FBI Miami office, Friend said.

Prince echoed those concerns.

“And to think that this [is] the Miami office of the FBI, the same office that raided Mar-a-Lago on a bogus documents case where the new special agent in charge, [a] whistleblower said that the FBI told him to delete his social media history because it was so virulently anti-Trump,” Prince said. “If we think that FBI office is going to do an honest job of investigating, I have severe doubts.”

Several officials said there needs to be an investigation of possible leaks inside the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security, and even the Trump campaign itself to determine how Routh knew 12 hours in advance Trump would be on the golf course.

Others asked how an active mercenary recruiting for soldiers to fight the war in Ukraine was not under FBI watch.

Jeff Clark, assistant attorney general under President Trump, blamed the Biden-Harris administration for the ongoing risk to the former president.

“Protocol is just a fancy French word for rules of thumb,” Clark wrote on X. “The thing about rules of thumb is that they can be changed as circumstances demand. And they should certainly have changed after the first assassination attempt on Trump in Butler."

“Joe Biden and Kamala could easily give the Secret Service surge resources and the flexibility to harden the protocol,” Clark said. “So it’s their fault President Trump isn’t being adequately protected.”

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Expert indicates Trump hatred from left, media likely fueled latest assassination attempt — then he makes ominous prediction



While many on the left and their allies in the media have blamed former President Donald Trump for yet another attempt on his life, at least one counterterrorism expert has claimed instead that anti-Trump animus from Democrats and the media likely motivated the would-be shooter and may even prompt future attacks.

Shortly after the shooting near Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, Tim Clemente, a former FBI counterterrorism agent, joined CNN's Erin Burnett to discuss the incident.

'I would think we're going to find that this guy [Routh] is extremely politically motivated and that he probably was spurred on by much of the political diatribes that are going on these days.'

After Burnett discussed the unprecedented nature of two assassination attempts against Trump in a matter of weeks, Clemente stated clearly that lies and distortions about Trump, such as taking his reference to a "bloodbath" out of context and "equating" him to Hitler, likely fueled the suspect's ire.

"Sadly, the finger-pointing at Trump has led to, you know, the line about the bloodbath, talking about the auto industry being used as if he's going to create a bloody coup if he loses," Clemente said. "That kind of the verbiage is something you use in a third-world country when you're talking about a dictator, and that sadly has led to, I think, these attempts on Trump's life."

Clemente also speculated about the suspect, later identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, after Burnett noted that, unlike the first would-be assassin, Thomas Crooks, Routh apparently fled the scene and was taken into custody alive. Clemente explained that such details indicate that Routh was likely "extremely politically motivated."

"It says that he's not suicidal apparently," Clemente told Burnett. "And [that] tells me that he's probably much more politically motivated. The last shooter in Pennsylvania, I don't want to say his name because I don't want to promote him in any way, but he was clearly the guy that was looking for the notoriety of taking that shot."

"I would think we're going to find that this guy [Routh] is extremely politically motivated and that he probably was spurred on by much of the political diatribes that are going on these days."

Burnett added that many Americans have likely become "immune" and "numb" to these attempts on Trump's life. Clemente believes that, amid this strongly anti-Trump political climate, another attempt on Trump's life is imminent.

"I don't think it's going to end," he said.

"I don't think this is the last we'll see of crazies out there trying to do this."

A short clip of the segment with Clemente can be seen here.

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Trump 'will NEVER SURRENDER' after SECOND assassination attempt by 'Ukraine fanatic'



Donald Trump can’t catch a break, as the former president just faced a second assassination attempt — and thankfully survived again.

The attempted assassination occurred at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, and was thwarted when Secret Service agents opened fire at the gunman. The gunman was then identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, who is a “Ukraine fanatic” and “Trump hater.”

Routh’s social media accounts reportedly were filled with posts about recruiting soldiers to fight in Ukraine.

In a statement from Trump, he wrote: “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL! Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER! I will always love you for supporting me. Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again.”

Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” can’t help but commend Trump’s strength throughout the past few months.

“Imagine the mental state that Donald Trump is in right now. He’s two months off having part of his ear blown off, and someone being killed at his rally, OK? The endless constant rhetoric, the backdrop of the trials, and them trying to remove him from the ballot, and there’s still an indictment pending where they could try to send him to jail,” Rubin says.

“And he is still out there. The guy barely takes a day off,” he adds.

Trump released a second statement on Truth Social, where he thanked the Secret Service and Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, “his Office of brave and dedicated patriots,” and “all of Law Enforcement.”

“THE JOB DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!” Trump concluded.


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