The alleged would-be assassin arrested for targeting Donald Trump while he golfed in Florida may have been given inside information about the former president’s schedule, according to an ex-FBI official who called the possibility “scary.”
Chris Swecker, a retired FBI assistant director, told Newsweek that the feds and other law enforcement will be probing how the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, allegedly appeared to know Trump would be at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sunday.
“The biggest question to answer is: ‘How did the would-be assassin know to be at that location at that time?’” said Swecker, who worked on FBI criminal investigations.
“There are only three possible answers: He guessed and got very lucky; he conducted surveillance on Trump and followed him to the golf course, or he had inside information about Trump’s schedule.”
He added: “The last answer is scary and has implications that another person was involved.”
Routh, of Hawaii, was nabbed after Secret Service agents stationed a few holes ahead of the 78-year-old former president noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
The alleged gunman, who had the rifle and a GoPro camera allegedly set up, apparently to record the planned shooting, was able to get to between 300 and 500 yards away from the 45th president.
The FBI is leading the investigation and is working to determine any motive, authorities said.
Follow the latest on the foiled assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Florida:
- Trump ‘safe and well’ after being targeted by would-be assassin with AK-47 assault rifle for second time in 2 months
- Shots fired near Trump live updates: Would-be shooter was 300-500 yards away, came with scope and GoPro — ‘Intent on filming’
- Who is alleged would-be Trump assassin Ryan Wesley Routh?
- Trump assures he’s ‘SAFE AND WELL’ after Secret Service fires at man armed with assault rifle at president’s golf resort
- Trump’s security at golf course was lighter because he’s not sitting prez: official
- Demands mount for Trump to get same protection as Biden — after yet another assassination plot
Despite Trump having a stepped-up security footprint since the last assassination attempt against him in July, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said protection for him was still light because he isn’t a sitting president.
The entire golf course would have been lined with law enforcement if Trump was the current president, the sheriff said.
Here’s what we know about the assassination attempt on Trump in Florida:
- Former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15, 2024.
- Trump sent out a statement to supporters soon after to report that he was “SAFE AND WELL.”
- The suspect — identified as Ryan Routh, 58, of Hawaii — was able to get within 300 to 500 yards of Trump at a chain link fence on the edge of the course, where he had an AK-47 and a GoPro camera set up, apparently to record the planned shooting.
- Routh has a history of supporting progressive causes online and has made 19 donations to Democratic candidates since 2019.
- A Secret Service agent spotted and opened fire on Routh as he put his gun through the fence. The suspect fled and was arrested on I-95 a short time later.
- According to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, Trump’s security detail was lighter because he isn’t a sitting president — despite the previous attempt on his life in July.
“I would imagine that the next time he comes to the golf course, there will probably be a little more people around the perimeter,” Bradshaw said.
“But the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done.”
Swecker, meanwhile, described the suspect as an apparent “wing nut” who hated authority after it emerged he had previously echoed anti-Trump rhetoric on social media and posted about threats to democracy.
“We know this suspect has posted about Trump being a danger to democracy and he has been active on some strange quests: visiting Ukraine to round up Afghan fighters, so motive is coming into focus — he is a wing nut who dislikes authority, based on his arrest record for resisting arrest in a two-hour standoff,” Swecker said.
Routh has had repeated run-ins with the law over the years — including an hours-long standoff with cops in 2002 in which he was convicted of carrying a “weapon of mass destruction,” online records show.
