Donald Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Wesley Routh urged Iran to kill former president in book he wrote about World War III

The man accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at his golf club on Sunday had called on the Iranian regime to kill the former president in a book he self-published with his wife, Kathleen Shaffer.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, apologizes to Iranians and said he blamed himself for having voted for Trump in 2016 in “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” a rambling account of his views on foreign affairs.

“I must take part of the blame for the retarded child that we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless, but I am man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake and Iran I apologize,” Routh writes in the book, which was self-published last year.

Ryan Wesley Routh fled after a Secret Service agent fired at him, but his car was later pulled over on I-95 heading north from West Palm Beach in Florida. X/Ryan_wesleyrouth

Routh had spent months in Ukraine trying to recruit soldiers and had campaigned in Kyiv’s central square, although officials in the country were somewhat skeptical of his actions and at one point dismantled his tent, according to his book. AP

“You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of the [nuclear] deal. No one here in the US seems to have the balls to put natural selection to work or even unnatural selection,” he added.

Two years after he was elected, Trump scuttled US participation in a nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions that had been lifted under a deal which was put into place in 2015.

In addition to Trump, Routh also called for the assassination of Vladimir Putin in the book, which is available on Amazon and was edited by Shaffer, 61, a manager at Old Navy in Hawaii, according to her LinkedIn profile.

“We all ponder as to why our great minds did not sijmply kill Hitler early on, and now why have we not taken steps to kill Putin at all costs to end this war,” Routh writes.

A sketch of would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh in Florida federal court on Sept. 16, 2024. Lothar Speer

Routh was hit with federal gun charges. Lothar Speer

Donald Trump was golfing at the time Routh was discovered with what police have called an AK-47-style rifle. REUTERS

Here’s what we know about the assassination attempt on Trump in Florida:

Routh was allegedly encountered by Secret Service agents on Sunday near the fifth and sixth holes at Trump’s golf course near his Mar-a-Lago resort.

After seeing Routh’s gun poking out of bushes, one agent shot at him, causing him to abandon his weapon and sniper post, where he had been for almost 12 hours, and run.

He managed to get to his car and drive off, but a witness photographed it, including the license plate, and he was arrested while driving on I-95 shortly after.

On Monday morning, Routh appeared in federal court, where he was charged with possessing a firearm despite having a prior felony conviction and having a firearm with its serial number removed.

Routh’s makeshift tent for international volunteers in Independence Square in Kyiv.

Routh self-published “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War.”

Routh pays tribute to people killed during the Russia-Ukraine war in a central square in Kyiv in 2022. AP

Within his sprawling book, Routh chronicles his five-month attempt to fight in Ukraine, at one point likening his mission to that of British writer George Orwell, who left for Spain to fight fascism during the country’s civil war in 1936.

“I, just like every other good human with a moral compass, knew that the right thing to do was to go to Ukraine and fight for freedom and human rights, and that is what I did,” Routh claims, adding that it took him a month to put his things in storage and obtain unspecified “military gear” for the trip.

He says he made the trip to Poland, where he hoped to enlist, but was turned away because of his age and lack of military experience.

In fact, Routh’s attempts to join the battle in Ukraine by volunteering in any capacity at the beginning of the conflict in 2022 all fail. He sets up a makeshift tent for international volunteers in Independence Square in Kyiv, only to have police officers tear it down a few weeks later.

Routh in the back of a police cruiser moments after his arrest. Martin County Sheriff’s Office

Ryan Routh with his wife, Kathleen Shaffer, in an undated Facebook picture. Facebook/Kathleen Shaffer

When he goes to a different public square, he is also hounded by authorities and Ukrainians themselves.

“I had hoped that I could bend Ukraine towards democracy and freedom and human rights and be a representative of the USA,” Routh writes. “I lost the fight. It was a childish, idealistic endeavor that was unwinnable.”


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He also complains throughout that he had to pay for his lodging and food, and received no help from  Ukrainians, whose country he claims he was intent on saving from the Russians.

“Far more saddening than the difference in mindset is the lack of appreciation for those that pay to travel to Ukraine and risk death to fight for their freedom,” he said. “There seems to be a total disregard for the sacrifice.”

Graphic images of violence from Iran, Afghanistan and other parts of the world are also scattered throughout the book.

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