More details about Ryan Routh, the suspect allegedly behind Donald Trump‘s second assassination attempt, has emerged concerning his financial situation. New York Times reporter Thomas Gibbons-Neff, who had interviewed Routh in the past, shared how much money Routh apparently had in his bank account and what his living situation was before his arrest. FBI officials say that Routh, 58, pointed a rifle through the fence line of a Florida golf course just several hundred yards away from where former President Trump was playing.
Ryan Wesley Routh was “financially despondent,” says reporter
Routh had “about $60 in his bank account” and was “living out of the back of his car” several days before his alleged assassination attempt on Donald Trump, according to Gibbons in an interview with CNN.
Gibbons had reportedly heard these details about Routh being “financially despondent” from Najim Rahim, who he describes in the New York Times as “an old colleague and friend from Kabul.”
With Najim’s assistance in March 2023, the reporter interviewed Routh as part of a piece about foreign fighters and volunteers in Ukraine in its war with Russia. At the time, Routh was attempting to help Ukraine by trying to get former Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban to the warfront.
In the CNN interview, Gibbons describes Routh as an “interesting character” who was “very driven to help Ukraine,” but he had ideas that were “nonsensical.” He says the suspect was someone who wanted to reinvent himself, pointing to Routh’s past criminal history and him being “invested in changing who he was as a person.”
Furthermore, in his NYT piece Gibbons says that “it was clear [Routh] was in way over his head,” talking about he was going to forge passports and buy off officials.
Routh appeared in federal court on Monday, September 16, on charges of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Trump recently responded to Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris and questioned whether his presidential debate against Harris was fair.
