Would-Be Trump Assassin Tried to Get Ukraine Rocket Launcher to Blow Up Trump Force One – Court Docs

In court documents filed earlier this week, the federal government revealed it had evidence that Ryan Wesley Routh, the man who allegedly hatched a plot to try and kill President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course in September 2024, had attempted to obtain military-grade weaponry to kill the then-Republican presidential nominee.

According to Fox News, these documents included a plan for a rocket or missile launcher, which he hoped to obtain from a Ukrainian contact.

Routh, the government said, try to “acquire anti-aircraft weapons” from the contact in August, according to messages allegedly discovered via an unnamed encrypted messaging app.

“The two had discussed the July 2024 attempt to assassinate President Trump that occurred in Pennsylvania, with Routh writing ‘I wish’ via encrypted messaging app, before the two began discussing Routh’s purchase of a weapon in August.” the government’s filing on Tuesday read.

Routh, the documents alleged, asked the individual to “send me an rpg [rocket propelled grenade] or stinger and I will see what we can do… [Trump] is not good for Ukraine.”

The attempted assassin then asked whether the individual could “ship it to me????”

“I need equipment so that Trump cannot get elected,” he reportedly said, noting that such items went missing on the battlefield in Ukraine all the time.

“[G]oing to the local store for such an item is impossible — however you are at war so those items lost and destroyed daily — one missing would not be noticed,” he reportedly said, before asking, “Do you think Trump will be good for Ukraine?????”

Routh also sent an image of the then-nominee’s campaign aircraft. “Trump’s plane, he gets on and off daily,” Routh said.

Routh ended up acquiring a .50 caliber sniper rifle illegally, prosecutors noted in the documents, and surveilled Trump’s patterns of movement until the Secret Service disrupted his alleged attempt on Trump’s life on Sept. 15, 2024.

“Using a burner phone (one of 17 devices attributed to him), Routh researched, among other things, Trump’s campaign movements, patterns of life, the golf course, Trump’s airplane, firearms and ammunition, escape routes, local hospitals, police forensic techniques, and items he would need for the attempt,” the documents alleged.

“Then, on September 15 itself, Routh set up his sniper hide in the predawn hours, in preparation for the President playing golf that day.

“After being shot at by the Secret Service shortly before his intended victim would have come into close range of the hide, Routh fled the scene, abandoning the rifle and seeking to escape. Most, if not all, of this conduct is direct evidence of Routh’s intent to kill the President.”

The documents alleged that he was found with numerous devices and documents that attested to his plot, including a detailed escape plan. He’s charged with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, and several firearms charges. He faces life in prison if convicted.

“All of the charges are linked by Routh’s plan to assassinate the President, and his preparation for executing it. Routh’s criminal acts on September 15 itself were not impromptu; he had been planning to assassinate the President for six months, at least,” the documents said.

It was a well-known fact that Routh had connections to Ukraine before the documents were released on Tuesday — and that they played a large part in establishing a motive to kill Trump — as was evinced by his social media feed when it was discovered in the wake of the attempted assassination attempt.

“WE MUST ALL GO TO UKRAINE AND FIGHT– I am flying from Hawaii to stand for democracy,” he said in one Feb. 20, 2022 post.

In another post, directed at a Ukrainian presidential adviser, he said that the “only way to end the war is to KILL PUTIN IN HIS BED AT NIGHT. Attack Moscow — I will pay for the polish planes and fly them at night just above ground and hit every place Putin sleeps. I AM FLYING TO POLAND TO BUY THE PLANES — and then to Ukraine to fight.”

In many ways, Routh’s social media presence seemed to echo talking points being made by the Democratic Party, albeit in much more bizarre form.

Some of his more bizarre tweets involved reaching out to celebrities — such as Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits — for assistance, including in recording a song for Ukraine.

“Can you help me produce a song for Ukraine,” he said to Knopfler in a from Feb. 22, 2023. “I have some lyrics to capture the pain of the war. It needs you raspy soulful voice. We must keep the war front of mind.”

According to reports that emerged after the assassination attempt, Routh was already on the FBI’s radar due in part to a nurse who contacted the bureau after meeting him in Ukraine.

Former CIA officer Sarah Adams, who ran a network that linked together 50 aid groups that were assisting in the region, said that he was known as a “fraudster” and “kind of a whack job” among the organizations.

“A lot of people were trying to get him to stop his activities, or at least prevent people from falling for his scams” in Ukraine, she told The Wall Street Journal.

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