Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect in the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, made his initial appearance in federal court on Monday, where he was charged with federal gun crimes.
During the eight-minute hearing, prosecutors charged him with two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
The charge of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm carries a possible sentence of 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of probation.
The second charge of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number carries a possible five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of probation.
A bail hearing is scheduled for Sept. 23, with a bill of charges or arraignment scheduled for Sept. 30, depending on whether the government obtains an indictment on the charges.
During the hearing, Routh provided court officials with the usual information about his employment status and income. In a quiet voice, he said he was working and made about $3,000 a month but had no savings.
Rouse said he has no real estate or assets, except for two trucks in Hawaii worth about $1,000.
Routh also said he has a 25-year-old son who he supports from time to time.
Records show the suspect spent about 12 hours near the golf course before being confronted.
An FBI affidavit attached to the criminal complaint states that investigators used his cellphone information during the investigation to show he was at the golf course on Sunday from approximately 1:59 a.m. to 1:31 p.m. A digital camera, a loaded rifle with a scope and plastic bags containing food were recovered from where Routh was located, according to the affidavit.
Authorities did not immediately release any new details about Routh or mention a specific motive, but he left an online trail that showed shifting political views and intense anger about the state of the world.
On the internet, Routh has portrayed himself as someone who built housing for the homeless in Hawaii, tried to recruit fighters to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia, expressed support for and then disdain for Donald Trump and urged Iran to kill him.
“Feel free to assassinate Trump,” Rouse wrote about Iran in his book, Ukraine’s Unwinnable War, which he likely self-published in 2023. In the book, he described the former president as a “fool” and a “clown” for both the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and his “epic blunder” of withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal.
Routh wrote that he once voted for Trump and that he must take some of the blame on “the dumb kid who ended up being our next president.”
Through his extensive online footprint, public records, news interviews and videos, a picture has emerged of Routh as a man with a criminal record, intense resentment and fluid political stances.
His more than 500 posts on X expressed a wide range of views from left to right, including support for politicians such as Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, Nikki Haley and Trump.
Voter records show he was registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina in 2012 and most recently voted in person in the state’s Democratic primary in March.
Federal campaign finance records show that Rouse also made 19 small donations totaling $140 since 2019 to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates.
In June 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd, Routh tweeted that he could be re-elected if then-President Trump issued an executive order to prosecute police misconduct. In recent days, however, his posts have become more critical of President Trump, and he has voiced his support for President Joe Biden and current Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Democracy is on the ballot and we cannot lose,” he wrote to X in April, endorsing Biden.
After the near-assassination attempt on Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July, Rouse’s account included posts calling on Biden and Harris to visit those injured in the shooting and attend the funeral of a firefighter who was killed.
“Trump will do nothing for them,” Rouse wrote. “I want them to show the world what compassion and humanity are.”
“I’m tired of being asked if I’m a Democrat or a Republican because I refuse to be pigeonholed into a category,” Rouse said in the book, which was posted on Amazon and reviewed by The Associated Press.
The world would be better off run by women, he writes in a book that links to his website and X-account: “Apparently all of the world’s problems revolve around men with extreme anxiety and childlike intellects and behavior.”
He posted frequently on social media about Ukraine and other conflicts, and ran a website aimed at raising funds and recruiting volunteers to fight for Kiev. A photo on his site shows a bristly, tousled-haired Routh smiling and wearing a T-shirt and jacket emblazoned with the U.S. flag.
“Fight and give your life to stop the aggression,” he posted on X about Ukraine in February 2023. “Everyone should be outraged and supportive.”
“This is a battle between good and evil,” Routh said in a video that has gone viral online, and also tweeted: “I will fight and die for Ukraine.”
Video captured by The Associated Press shows Routh staging a small demonstration in Kiev’s Independence Square in April 2022, two months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Kiev.
The sign he carried read: “We cannot tolerate corruption and evil for another 50 years or more. End Russia for our children.” He was wearing a blue vest with an American flag on the back.
That same day, he also visited a makeshift memorial for “foreigners killed by Putin.”
But Laus has never served in or cooperated with the Ukrainian military, said Oleksandr Shahri, head of the Foreign Relations Coordination Department of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command.
Shahri told The Associated Press that Routh regularly contacted the International Association of Ukrainian Veterans of Foreign Wars and complained about nonsensical ideas that “can only be described as delusional.”
Routh appeared on video in front of the U.S. Capitol building to express frustration that Ukraine was not accepting more Afghan special forces troops that he had been trying to recruit.
“They’re afraid that everyone is a Russian spy,” he told the news site Semaphore in 2023.
Earlier this year, he tweeted to singers Bruno Mars and Dave Matthews, calling on them to organize a “We are the World”-style effort for Kyiv. “We need a moving tribute song to Ukraine now that aid has stalled,” he wrote. “The lyrics and the tune are here.”
Routh also tweeted that former basketball player Dennis Rodman should help lift sanctions to ease tensions with North Korea, and in another tweet he called on 12 Hong Kong protesters to stay at his home in Hawaii to escape Chinese repression.
Routh has lived in Greensboro, North Carolina, for most of his life, and has had his share of trouble with police, including a felony conviction in 2002 for possessing a “fully automatic machine gun.” Court records don’t provide details about the incident, but the Greensboro News & Record reported that Routh was arrested for a traffic violation after evading a police pursuit for three hours while armed at his roofing shop. State records list him as the owner of the shop.
Records show that Routh was convicted of a felony count of possession of stolen property in 2010, as well as misdemeanors including unlawful possession of a weapon, hit-and-run, speeding and driving while license revoked. In each case, judges gave Routh probation or suspended sentences, avoiding prison time.
It was not immediately clear how Routh was able to obtain the weapon, as most states generally prohibit people with felony convictions from purchasing or possessing firearms.
In 2018, Rouse moved to Ka’aawa, a small town in Hawaii about 45 minutes outside of Honolulu, and started a business with his adult son building small wooden cabins that, according to his LinkedIn page, “help address the highest homelessness rates in the United States caused by unprecedented gentrification.”
“We’re all tired of seeing homeless people across the island with nowhere to go,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in 2019.
On Sunday, a blue stucco house near the beach was brightly painted with cutouts of fish trees, but no one answered the door. A white pickup truck with a Biden-Harris bumper sticker and a flat tire was parked in the driveway.
Neighbor Christopher Tam said Routh was a socially awkward, polite, kind-hearted man.
“We were really surprised,” Tam said. “If he was involved in this, it would be a huge shock to us.”