Man accused of trying to kill Trump wrote a book urging Iran to assassinate the ex-president

KAAAWA, Hawaii (AP) — Ryan Routh portrayed himself online as a man who built housing for homeless people in Hawaii, tried to recruit fighters for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, and described his support and then disdain for Donald Trump — even urging Iran to kill him.

“You are free to assassinate Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran in an apparently self-published book in 2023, “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” which described the former president as a “fool” and “buffoon” for both the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and the “tremendous blunder” of leaving the Iran nuclear deal.

Routh wrote that he once voted for Trump and must take part of the blame for the “child that we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless.”

Routh, 58, was arrested Sunday after authorities say he stalked the GOP presidential nominee as he golfed in West Palm Beach, Florida, with a AK-47-style rifle in an apparent assassination attempt thwarted by the Secret Service.

Three officials who identified Routh spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and search for a motive.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-parsely-url=«https%3A%2F%2Fapi.parsely.com%2Fv2%2Frelated%3Fapikey%3Dapnews.com%26url%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Ftrump-assassination-attempt-suspect-ukraine-f76ed09f256f6bd21727a10901d92af7%26limit%3D9%26respect_empty_results%3D1%26sort%3D_score%26pub_date_start%3D2024-08-02%26exclude%3Dsection%3APress%20Releases%26exclude%3Dtags%3ACelebrity%20Birthdays» data-parsely-title=«Related Stories» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»>