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Quick Take
Rumors about Ryan Wesley Routh, who staked out Trump International Golf Club in Florida on Sept. 15, have been flying on social media. Some claim he “is a registered democrat.” Others claim he “is a Republican.” Routh was once registered as a Democrat, but said he voted for Donald Trump in 2016. He is not currently registered with any party.
Full Story
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, is facing two federal gun charges after authorities say he may have been planning to assassinate former President Donald Trump. The investigation is continuing and more charges may be filed.
Update, Sept. 26: Routh was indicted on Sept. 24 for the attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.
Routh didn’t fire any shots, but cell phone data collected by police showed that he had situated himself in a wooded area near the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, for about 12 hours before a Secret Service agent noticed a rifle “poking out of the tree line” on Sept. 15, while Trump was there playing golf. Routh fled after the agent fired in the direction of the rifle, according to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Police arrested Routh on I-95 and found a loaded semiautomatic rifle with a scope near where he allegedly had been by the golf course.
Routh has been charged in federal court with possession of a firearm by a felon and possession and receipt of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Following Routh’s arrest, Trump wrote a series of posts on his social media platform, Truth Social. He first thanked law enforcement officers for their work that day. The next day he sought campaign donations with the message, “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!!!!!” and blamed Democratic politicians and “Communist Left Rhetoric” for getting “bullets … flying.”
Other social media users took the political associations further, posting claims that Routh “looks like a MAGA republican but is a registered democrat” and that he “is intimately connected to the highest echelons of the Democratic Party.” The only evidence offered to support the claim of Routh’s connection to Democratic leaders was a photo of Routh with chef José Andrés, whom President Joe Biden appointed as the co-chair of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition.
Those on the left made claims emphasizing parts of Routh’s background that make him seem conservative. One post, for example, said that Routh “voted for Trump in 2016, was a huge anti-vaxx conspiracy nut,” and “showed support for Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy.” Another went even further and falsely claimed that Routh is a registered Republican. “MAGA’s can try to spin this all they want, but Ryan Wesley Routh (today’s shooter) is a Republican and voted for Trump in 2016,” one post on Threads claimed.
Here’s what we know about Routh and his political affiliations:
Routh first registered to vote in North Carolina in 1988 as a Democrat, according to records provided to FactCheck.org by the North Carolina State Board of Elections. He changed his party affiliation to “unaffiliated” in 2002 and was removed from the voter rolls the following year due to a felony conviction.
Routh had pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon of mass destruction in December 2002 for an incident involving an explosive device described in court records as a binary explosive (which means there were two components that would be mixed together to cause an explosion) with a blasting cap, or detonator. Publicly available records do not explain the circumstances of the arrest. We reached out to the lawyer who defended Routh in the case and the prosecutor who handled it, but we didn’t hear back from either one.
In North Carolina, felons can register to vote again after they have served their sentence. Routh re-registered in 2005 and remained unaffiliated with a party, according to the records provided by the state board of elections.
Routh was again removed from the voter rolls in 2010 following another felony conviction.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of stolen property in March 2010, involving the possession of two marble bathroom sinks worth $180, possession of welding equipment worth more than $1,000, and three kayaks worth more than $1,000.
According to the application for a search warrant included in the court records, Routh, who owned a roofing company, had kept the stolen items in a trailer on his property and in a warehouse associated with his business.
Routh re-registered to vote again in 2012 and was, again, unaffiliated with a political party.
Sometime around 2018, Routh moved to Hawaii and started a business that would build simple structures to house homeless people.
Voting records aren’t public in Hawaii, but Vaughn Cotham, a senior elections clerk in Honolulu’s election division, confirmed to us in a phone interview that Routh is actively registered to vote. He is not registered with a party, Cotham said, explaining that Hawaii doesn’t keep party affiliation on record. Hawaii has open primaries, which means that voters can cast ballots in either party’s primary elections. Cotham was unable to provide the date when Routh registered or in which elections Routh had voted.
According to public records, Routh voted in the Democratic primary in North Carolina in March. North Carolina allows unaffiliated voters to choose which party’s primary to vote in, but those voters can participate in only one primary election.
For most of the time Routh was registered to vote, he didn’t make contributions to federal campaigns, according to Federal Election Commission records. But, starting in 2019, Routh began making modest donations — totaling about $140 — to support Democrats.
The political views that Routh expressed on social media were varied. He reportedly wrote on his now-suspended X account in 2020 that he had voted for Trump in 2016, but had become disappointed with the former president. He also expressed support at the time for independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, both of whom had sought the Democratic nomination for president that year. Gabbard has since left the Democratic Party to become an independent.
In January, Routh reportedly expressed support for Vivek Ramaswamy, who was seeking the Republican nomination for president.
Routh had also developed strong views about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and, in February 2023, published an e-book on Amazon that is generally supportive of Ukraine.
So, Routh has a mixed political history. What we do know is that he has not been a registered member of a political party since 2002.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Meta to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Meta has no control over our editorial content.
Sources
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Press release. “FBI Statement on Incident in West Palm Beach, Florida.” 15 Sep 2024.
News Conference on Investigation Into Apparent Assassination Attempt on Former President Trump. C-SPAN. 16 Sep 2024.
U.S. v. Ryan Wesley Routh. Case no. 9:24-mj-08441. Criminal complaint. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. 16 Sep 2024.
Gannon, Patrick. Spokesman, North Carolina State Board of Elections. Email to FactCheck.org. 16 Sep 2024.
State of North Carolina v. Ryan Wesley Routh. Case No. 02CR083088-400. Docket. Guilford Superior Court. Disposed 20 Dec 2002.
State of North Carolina v. Ryan Wesley Routh. Case No. 02CR083088-400. Guilford Superior Court. Disposed 20 Dec 2002.
State of North Carolina v. Ryan Wesley Routh. Case No. 10CR068060-400. Docket. Guilford Superior Court. Disposed 3 Mar 2010.
State of North Caroline v. Ryan Wesley Routh. Case No. 10CR068059-400. Guilford Superior Court. Disposed 3 Mar 2010.
Huff, Daryl. “Suspect in Trump’s apparent assassination attempt had no ties to Ukraine peace movement in Hawaii.” Hawaii News Now. 16 Sep 2024.
Cotham, Vaughn. Senior elections clerk, Honolulu Election Division. Telephone interview with FactCheck.org. 16 Sep 2024.
North Carolina State Board of Elections. Ryan Wesley Routh voter details. Accessed 16 Sep 2024.
Federal Election Commission. Individual contributions — Routh, Ryan. Accessed 19 Sep 2024.
Brennan, David, Chris Looft and Julia Reinstein. “Trump suspect told Iran ‘you are free to assassinate Trump’ in apparent self-published book.” ABC News. 16 Sep 2024.