Associated Press
The more Chelsea Walsh talked to the eccentric fellow American who seemed to pop up in every square and cobblestone street of Ukraine’s capital, the more she got creeped out.
Walsh was in Kyiv as a nurse and aid worker in the early days of the war in Ukraine. Ryan Routh was there to recruit foreign soldiers to fight the Russians. But Walsh never saw him make much progress and instead watched him grow increasingly angry and unhinged, kicking a panhandler, threatening to burn down a music studio that slighted him and speaking of his own children with seething hatred.
Just as troubling, she said, was Routh’s obsessive, oddly specific plotting to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin, describing the various explosives, poisons and cross-border maneuvers that Routh would employ “to kill him in his sleep.”
“Ryan Routh is a ticking time bomb,” she recalled telling U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in an hourlong interview upon returning to the United States at Dulles International Airport near Washington in June 2022. She says she later repeated her concerns in separate tips to both the FBI and Interpol, the international policing group.
Walsh says she never heard back about her tips and she did not think much more about Routh until she saw him in the news last Sunday as the 58-year-old accused of stalking Donald Trump at the former president’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, in an apparent assassination attempt.
Walsh’s account was one of at least four reports to the U.S. government that, while not direct threats to Trump, raised suspicions about Routh in the years leading up to his arrest. Others included a tip to the FBI in 2019 about Routh being in possession of a firearm after a felony conviction, an online report by an aid worker to the State Department last year questioning Routh’s military recruiting tactics, and Routh’s own interview with Customs and Border Protection about those efforts, prompting a referral for a possible inquiry by Homeland Security Investigations.
What was done in response that could have stopped Routh or at least put him under greater scrutiny is not entirely clear. The agencies involved either did not respond to queries from The Associated Press, have no record of such a report or had questions about whether the report warranted further investigation.
But some people are asking whether federal agencies are vigilant enough or even equipped enough to deal with a growing number of potential threats that are brought to their attention every day.
“Federal agencies ought to be on the highest alert to detect and combat these threats,” said Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Congress and the American people need assurance that the federal government is doing all it can.”
Walsh, who lives just a few miles from Trump’s golf course, said she cannot help but think all of this could have been avoided.
Sarah Adams, an ex-CIA officer who was behind the State Department tip, said she decided to act after learning Routh was trying to recruit former Afghan fighters with false promises of spots in the Ukrainian military.
She said she drafted a bulletin urging the 50 humanitarian aid groups she was helping in Ukraine to keep Routh at arm’s length, and she had her company send a similar online report to the State Department.
“There was plenty to look into,” said Adams, who lives in Tampa, Florida. “I don’t know if they even assigned someone to work it.”
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said there is no record of any complaints about Routh. He said he could not rule out that “someone didn’t have a communication with somebody somewhere.”
Similarly, Customs and Border Protection said it could not confirm Walsh had a meeting with one of its agents because it does not comment on individual cases. The FBI also declined to confirm Walsh’s warning, citing a policy of not commenting on ongoing investigations. Interpol did not respond to a request for comment.
Walsh showed the AP notes that she took while talking to Customs and Border Protection, and a text she sent to a friend about her messages to the FBI and Interpol with a time stamp soon after she sent them.
Routh, a North Carolina construction worker who in recent years moved to Hawaii, was being held on weapons charges related to the Trump case. His federal public defender, Kristy Militello, did not respond to messages seeking comment.
A self-styled mercenary leader, Routh was never shy about speaking out to anyone who would listen about his dangerous, sometimes violent plans to insert himself into conflicts around the world.
He was interviewed by The New York Times, photographed by the AP and other news organizations and appeared in videos from Kyiv making his pitch for foreign fighters. He put out a self-published book last year on Amazon, “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” in which he writes of the wisdom of a well-timed killing of a world leader to change history.
“You are free to assassinate Trump,” Routh wrote, referring to Iran in retaliation for the former president’s decision to abandon the U.S. nuclear deal with that country. Routh went on to describe Trump, whom he had voted for in 2016, as a “fool” and “buffoon” for the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and for pushing a negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraine.
Walsh said she initially found the wiry, floppy-haired Routh to be just bizarre. But as time went on, she got a darker vibe from the way Routh lurked in the streets, seemed to be everywhere and kept tabs on everyone.
She watched as Routh kicked a homeless man begging for money and then snarled, “The Ukrainians should be paying me for what I am doing here!” She said he talked of his grown children with such hatred — “I wish I never had them” — that it frightened her. She remembers how he threatened to burn down a music studio because people there laughed at him over a song he wrote.
“Ryan was the kind of guy who would blow up a building on Tuesday, just because he felt like it,” Walsh said.
Routh’s musings about killing Putin were echoed in his book published last year that describes an even more far-fetched plan for someone with no military experience: launching thousands of weaponized drones to flatten Putin’s many residences.
But in the end, he wrote, the Ukrainians and disaffected Russians he hoped to recruit as accomplices lost their “courage and will” to pull it off.
In 2019, three years before Routh flew to Kyiv to build a foreign legion, the FBI followed up on a tip that he was in possession of a firearm despite felony convictions from years earlier.
But when questioned, the alleged tipster backed off and did not verify providing the initial information. The FBI then referred the matter to Hawaiian law enforcement for further investigation. Honolulu police confirmed this week they were looking into it.
In June 2023, Routh was pulled aside by Customs and Border Protection agents at the Honolulu airport when returning from Ukraine, Poland and Turkey, and asked about his activities overseas.
As first reported by the website Just the News and confirmed in congressional testimony this past week, documents show Routh told them he had been recruiting as many as 100 fighters from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan, and that his wife was paying for his efforts.
Routh also gave agents a business card that claimed he was the director of a group called the International Volunteer Center.
The documents state that the agents referred Routh’s case to Homeland Security Investigations for further scrutiny but it declined to pursue the matter.
In congressional testimony Wednesday, Katrina Berger, executive associate director of the agency, noted that it gets hundreds of such requests a day and that Routh’s comments did not rise to the level to take him into “immediate custody.”
Asked specifically to confirm whether a further investigation was declined, she said she was not sure and would look into it.
Routh’s criminal history in his native Greensboro, North Carolina, includes a 2002 arrest for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction,” which turned out to be an explosive with a 10-inch-long fuse.
In 2010, police searched a warehouse Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen items, from power tools and building supplies to kayaks and spa tubs. Police alleged in an affidavit that he was selling the items to purchase crack cocaine.
In both felony cases, court records show judges gave Routh either probation or a suspended sentence, allowing him to escape prison time.
Tracy Fulk, a now-retired Greensboro police officer who arrested Routh in the long-ago armed standoff, said she was not surprised by last week’s news about Routh.
“Remembering all the alerts and run-ins and stuff,” she said, “he was kind of ‘out there.’”
___
Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
42 comments
THE SAGE "E" [FKA ELVIS FKA EARL]
September 21, 2024 at 6:07 pm
BUZZ BUZZ ….. BUZZ BUZZ …..
BUZZ BUZZ ….. BUZZ BUZZ …..
Good evening Dook 4 Brains Leftys,
The “E” Poly-Sci Division interupts your reading and wanking to provide an A. P. “WARNING” of Dook 4 Brains Leftist Propaganda.
Please log off your Google Device and go to “The Nearest Closet” to ask the Good Lord to “Come Into Your Room” and clense your Soul of all the “Evil Propaganda” you just read in the above A. P. Demonic Artical.
Go quickly to YouTube and pull up The “Georgia Tabernacial” version of “COME INTO MY ROOM” and listen to it 3 times in a row while asking 1.) The Father, 2.) The Son, and 3.) The Holy Ghost to drive the propaganda out of your mind and body which you just read in the above A. P. Propaganda Artical.
THEN:
Pull up The Reverend Shirley Ceaser on You Tube and listen to “Your Next In Line (for a Mericale” again 3 times.
This process will clear your mind from the “Demonic Influence” of the above A. P. Propaganda.
BUZZ BUZZ ….. BUZZ BUZZ …..
BUZZ BUZZ ….. BUZZ BUZZ ….. This is not a drill,
Thank you,
BUZZ BUZZ ….. BUZZ BUZZ …..
BUZZ BUZZ ….. BUZZ BUZZ …..,
THE SAGE “E” [FKA ELVIS FKA EARL]
The Cat In The MAGA Hat
September 21, 2024 at 6:42 pm
Nobody complains about Trump mental instability,he just as crazy as this man, Trump was a former President,the only reason,he getting attention, Trump probably as crazy as this man
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 12:24 pm
Word salad.
rick whitaker
September 23, 2024 at 12:39 pm
BILLY ROTBERG, word salad, is that your pitiful answer to things you can’t or refuse to comprehend? it seems so.
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 12:49 pm
“he just as crazy as this man”
and
“the only reason,he getting attention”
are fine examples of word salad Rick.
Shall I post the definition, Salty?
Michael K
September 21, 2024 at 7:11 pm
As Gabby Giffords recently wrote, it always comes down to the guns.
Why do Republicans resist common-sense reforms – and why do they insist on flooding our communities with weapons designed for war? Why is the ATF hobbled? Why is easier to buy a gun than vote in some states?
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 12:17 pm
What “Common sense” gun control?
How is it easier to buy a gun than vote?
Be specific.
rick whitaker
September 23, 2024 at 12:46 pm
BILLY ROTBERG, that ” common sense ” comment was an example of being facetious, you fool. maga doesn’t want ANY gun control, common sense ones included. florida maga cultist don’t want any dems voting and they are scrambling to make that happen. haters hate, and cheaters cheat. you seem to be taking up for hating cheaters.
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 12:54 pm
You’re the one full of hate Rick.
All you do is deflect and post negative drivel in response to simple questions that you seem to lack the ability or desire to answer. And besides, I didn’t ask you on this thread.
rick whitaker
September 23, 2024 at 12:58 pm
BILLyT ROTBERG, do i care what a punk’s punk like you thinks, no, of course i don’t. don’t flatter yourself into thinking you are relevant, you’re not.
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 1:03 pm
You care, otherwise you wouldn’t have replied with your Negativity Rick.
Try controlling your emotions and acting like an adult.
rick whitaker
September 23, 2024 at 1:09 pm
BILLY ROTBERG, yeah dude, you’re right and i’m wrong. yes i am angry. punks are trying to ruin my country, how could i not be mad.
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 1:23 pm
You just said you are so old that you don’t have any emotions anymore. Now suddenly you do? Which one is it?
Billy Rotberg
September 26, 2024 at 7:43 pm
Facetious! Yes! All gun control pushers who use that word are exactly that! Totally agree!
rick whitaker
September 23, 2024 at 1:14 pm
BILLY ROTBERG, what’s got into you? you are so heavily into projectionism that you can’t tell reality from fiction. you need to let me school you, but you won’t.
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 1:28 pm
Statements of fact are not projectionism.
You are still the one projecting and you know it.
rick whitaker
September 23, 2024 at 1:41 pm
BILLY ROTBERG, you can’t handle the facts.
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 1:49 pm
Nope, try again Rick.
rick whitaker
September 23, 2024 at 1:40 pm
BILLY ROTBERG, don’t put words in my mouth. you say this, and you say that, but it is YOU saying it, so that makes it a lie. you don’t have a clue about me. you try like a punk though. use that reverse psychology, projectionism, or bald -faced lies, i don’t care. at the end of the day, you are a punk’s punk, so who cares what you say or think..
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 1:44 pm
Nobody is putting words in your mouth Rick.
Again I don’t lie so that makes you the liar.
Obviously, it is not possible to have an adult conversation with you.
rick whitaker
September 23, 2024 at 1:51 pm
BILLY ROTBERG, you just lied about not lying. i’ve met your type, there is no way to get through to punk’s like you. you won’t hear from me for a while. i’m through baby sitting for now. JD can put up with your dumb ass for now. so long sucker, that’s not anger, that’s just all the time i have for you right now. WHAT A LOSER.
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 1:59 pm
Nope, try again.
Ocean Joe
September 21, 2024 at 7:45 pm
Will the ‘Jan 6 Hostage Singers’ let him join their group? Different beliefs but a common reason they’re all in jail: Trump.
The Cat In The MAGA Hat
September 21, 2024 at 7:59 pm
Trump is just as crazy,as this man,you could not tell the different,one has been President and the other is an average, Trump got about 33 felonies,to.his one
THE SAGE "E" [FKA ELVIS FKA EARL]
September 21, 2024 at 8:57 pm
The A. P. Artical which you Dook 4 Brains Leftys are “Orgazing” over is nothing but Dook 4 Brains Lefty Fodder.
You all should know better which is why you all are under a “Sage “E” CHASITZEMENT.
Thank you, Dook 4 Brains Leftys,
THE SAGE “E” [FKA ELVIS FKA EARL]
THE SAGE "E" [FKA ELVIS FKA EARL]
September 21, 2024 at 9:00 pm
BTW “DOOK’S” its a painfull 3 day CHASTIZEMENT inclusive of The Wanking Ban.
Too bad ….. so sad ….. Lefty Wankers,
THE SAGE “E” [FKA ELVIS FKA EARL]
rick whitaker
September 21, 2024 at 9:04 pm
EARL, you mention AP so much, it has inspired me to go to the AP website daily to get the best news. earl you are such a fool.
THE SAGE "E" [FKA ELVIS FKA EARL]
September 22, 2024 at 4:13 pm
Dont worry “R”,
None of these wanking bans apply to you.
Wank On My Man and enjoy,
“E”
rick whitaker
September 22, 2024 at 5:20 pm
EARL, yeah, right, whatever dude.
Elmo
September 22, 2024 at 2:38 pm
And meanwhile weapons of war are readily available. That’s not doing enough.
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 12:19 pm
What weapons of war?
Be specific.
rick whitaker
September 23, 2024 at 12:49 pm
BILLY ROTBERG, you can’t handle specificity. ar-15 style weapons you fool.
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 12:57 pm
Style does not constitute functionality Rick.
What army uses AR-15s?
Try answering the question like an adult.
Try controlling your emotions.
rick whitaker
September 23, 2024 at 1:05 pm
BILLY ROTBERG, you punk, i’m a vietnam veteran. i’m so old that i don’t have any emotions anymore. i know a clueless punk when i hear one though. your post was pitiful dude. just how immature and inane are you?. others say you are that maga mark punk known as peachy, is that so? both or one of you are nuts.
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 1:20 pm
Now you’re just rambling with more emotional nonsense Rick. The “Punk” thing is kinda funny actually. I opened for Social Distortion back in the day so the punk thing as some sort of insult does not fly here. Try getting back on topic.
rick whitaker
September 23, 2024 at 1:44 pm
BILLY ROTBERG, your silly ass don’t have a clue about my definition of a punk’s punk. trust me, you don’t want to know. it ain’t pretty.
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 1:45 pm
Off Topic again Rick.
Billy Rotberg
September 26, 2024 at 7:48 pm
What rank? I’m sure you were a subordinate to my brother. I’m sorry the VC abused you sexually. Cheer up! I’ll play DOA by Bloodrock through my PA in honor of your transition. Enjoy the flashbacks.
Billy Rotberg
September 23, 2024 at 1:41 pm
Why was this guy allowed to roam freely with all his criminal activity?
rick whitaker
September 26, 2024 at 8:20 pm
BILLY ROTBERG, why is a nut bag like you not in an institution? because there are so many nut bags out there we don’t have room for all of them. you are no different that the nut that tried to kill trump. the comment you just posted proves my statement succinctly. florida is full of nuts it seems.
Billy Rotberg
September 27, 2024 at 10:16 am
More Libel from Lying Rick.
written defamation. is illegal.
Perhaps I’ll reach out to Peter Schorsch and have my lawyer take it to the next level.
You want a summons?
rick whitaker
September 27, 2024 at 10:28 am
BILLY you are a lying little punk. TRY to prove you aren’t a lying punk. yeah sue me for exposing a poser, right. billy your dunning – kruger issues are showing. you blew yourself up to make people think that you were smart and witty, sorry you failed. your syndrome won’t let you see yourself as others see you. to me you are a punk’s punk, nothing more. bye you little punk. you won’t hear from me for a while, i’m too busy to entertain myself with your antics.
Comments are closed.