Two Men Allegedly Tried to Kill Trump This Summer. Here’s What to Know About Them

The two men who law enforcement say attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump this summer were of different generations, with unclear motives and apparently differing political allegiances.
The one — and perhaps only — thing they had in common, aside from an apparent desire to kill Trump: both gave small-dollar donations to Democrats through ActBlue, the Democratic-aligned fundraising powerhouse that has raised more than $15 billion for progressive causes and politicians since forming in 2004.
While Ryan Wesley Routh’s name became widely known to most Americans on Sunday after his arrest for allegedly planning to assassinate Donald Trump, the 58-year-old had previously given several media interviews, which offered early insight into his character and potential motives.
Online, he portrayed himself as someone who built housing for the homeless in Hawaii and tried to recruit fighters to help Ukraine. He also expressed both support for, and then growing disdain toward, Trump—at one point even urging Iran to kill him.
Though his address is listed in Hawaii, Routh appears to have spent most of his adult life in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he had multiple run-ins with the law over the years. These included a 2002 felony conviction for possessing a “fully automatic machine gun” and a 2010 felony for stolen goods. His record also includes misdemeanors such as carrying a concealed weapon, speeding, and driving with a revoked license.
In court on Monday, Routh revealed he earned about $3,000 a month but had no savings, only two trucks in Honolulu, and occasionally supported his 25-year-old son.
Authorities are still investigating his motives, but Routhe’s online presence shows shifting political views and frustrations. In a rambling, self-published 2023 book, Ukraine’s Unwinnable War, he voiced strong support for the Ukrainian fight against Russia, urged Iran to assassinate Trump, calling the former president a “fool” and a “buffoon,” and criticizing his role in the January 6 Capitol riot and the Iran nuclear deal withdrawal.
In the same book, Routh described himself as politically unaffiliated. As of 2012, Routh was registered as “unaffiliated” in North Carolina and voted in the state Democratic primary earlier this year, voter registration records show.
Routh’s activism went beyond words. He traveled to Ukraine several times since the war began and claimed to have recruited volunteers for Ukraine’s International Legion. His claims drew media attention, including interviews with American newspapers.
However, a former volunteer for the Legion told Newsweek that Routhe was “delusional” and a “liar.”
He also appears to have developed intense regret over his 2016 vote for Trump, whom he later referred to as “a brainless child.” Since changing his beliefs on the former president, Routh has donated exclusively to Democratic causes, making 19 donations through ActBlue over the past five years, totaling $140. His contributions ranged from $1 to $25.
Before his political shift, Routh had supported Republicans. He donated to John Kasich in 2015, John McCain in 2007, and even to Gary Bauer and Kasich again in earlier years.
Thomas Matthews Crooks, the 20-year-old Pennsylvania man who was killed by Secret Service snipers after firing shots at Trump at a rally in Butler on July 13, had a somewhat less cohesive political background, and left many more gaps for investigators to fill in.
Unlike Routh, who kept a robust social media profile on X that detailed his pro-Ukraine and morphing anti-Trump views, Crooks left little apparent social media activity. The rightwing social platform Gab said Crooks may have had an account that he used to post “in support of President Biden.”
The FBI said it discovered another social media account linked to Crooks that shared “antisemitic” topics, and described his limited online footprint as a “mixture of ideologies.”
Complicating the search for motive in that case, Crooks was a registered Republican who also donated to ActBlue — a single time on the day of President Biden’s inauguration, in the amount of $15, according to FEC filings that match his known address. The donation was earmarked for the Progressive Turnout Project, a get-out-the-vote operation based in Chicago.
Newsweek has reached out to ActBlue for comment but has not received a response.
Crooks worked at a local nursing-home kitchen, passing a background check without raising concerns. He graduated with an associate degree in engineering science from the Community College of Allegheny this year. The FBI said that Crooks searched online for both Trump and President Joe Biden’s events and believe he may have seen the Pennsylvania rally scheduled for near his home as a “target of opportunity,” according to a senior FBI official, rather as expressly politically motivated toward either candidate.
In the days leading up to the shooting, Crooks searched for the Butler rally location, the date and location of the Democratic National Convention, and information about other political figures. Then on the day of the shooting, he searched for photos of the rally site and bought the ammunition used in the attack, officials said.
Investigators found rudimentary explosive devices, a bulletproof vest, magazines, and a drone in Crooks’ car. Two months later, his exact motives remain unclear, though the FBI considers the shooting a failed assassination attempt. U.S. authorities have stated that Crooks acted alone, with no evidence of foreign involvement or a wider conspiracy.
On Monday, law enforcement officials said something similar about the more recent attempt on Trump’s life, telling the media they believe, so far in the investigation, that Routh acted alone.