The Martin County Sheriff’s Department released footage Monday of the arrest of Ryan Wesley Routh the day prior following an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Trump was evacuated from the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, after Secret Service agents spotted and then reportedly fired at Routh, who allegedly had a semi-automatic rifle within 500 yards of the former president. The footage shows officers ordering Routh to walk backward to them before placing him in handcuffs after stopping him on I-95.
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Police credited a witness during a Sunday press conference for getting a photo of Routh’s vehicle as he fled following the thwarted attempt on Trump’s life, enabling them to stop Routh while he was driving and take him into custody.
Routh has a history of donating to Democratic politicians after he initially supported Trump in 2016 and has also expressed support for Ukraine in their war against Russia, traveling to the country and attempting to bring in American-trained Afghans to fight the invasion.
“This conflict is definitely black and white,” Routh told Newsweek Romania in a video interview about why he was traveling to Ukraine prior to the assassination attempt. “This is about good versus evil.”
Sunday’s attempt on Trump’s life was the second this year. Trump was shot and slightly wounded in the right ear during an assassination attempt while he was addressing a crowd of supporters at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler Township, Pennsylvania.
Routh has previously had over 100 run-ins with law enforcement, according to Fox News. He also allegedly self-published a book that urged Iran to carry out its threats to assassinate Trump in response to a January 2020 drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, a high-ranking member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, The New York Post reported.
Routh appeared in federal court Monday, where he was charged on two counts of violating federal firearms laws, one of possessing a firearm as a felon and one of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, according to The New York Post.
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