Former FBI agent says would-be Trump assassin’s devices likely already compromised by intel agencies

A veteran FBI agent said Monday that he would be “shocked” if intelligence agencies did not already have would-be Trump assassin Ryan Wesley Routh on their radar for his travel and apparent efforts to recruit foreign fighters for Ukraine. 

“I asked about it in almost every case I had, especially in counterterrorism Division at the FBI when I was there, what did the other intelligence agencies know about this American citizen out on the battlefield and who was recruiting in Afghanistan?” Jeff Danik told the John Solomon Reports podcast Monday. 

"These are target countries, high criteria intelligence collection points for—are legitimate collection points—for our CIA, our NSA and our five eyes partners,” he said. 

Danik is a 28-year veteran of the FBI with experience in domestic and international terrorism investigations, as well as white collar crime. The former agent said one of the first investigative steps would likely be for the FBI to contact other intelligence agencies about what data, if any, they had collected on Routh. 

“So an American traipsing around in that battleground is going to perceive focus, I would be shocked if one of the intelligence agencies didn't have his devices compromised,” he said. “All that data and collection is going to be classified, of course, but my question is, does it even exist? Do we know who he was contacting, who is contacted with it?”

Routh traveled to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion began and sought to volunteer to fight in the conflict. After he was rejected from the foreign legion because of his age and lack of experience, He went about trying to recruit foreign fighters for the conflict, according to an interview Routh gave to Newsweek Romania in 2022. 

Asked by a reporter why he was in Ukraine, Routh said “many other conflicts are somehow in a gray area, for me this conflict is definitely black and white. It is clearly about the battle between good and evil.” 

“My original goal was to come and fight. All of us, from the entire planet, should be motivated to support Ukraine and its army, regardless of gender, age, or other characteristics,” he said. “But I'm 56 years old and have no military experience, so I'm not an ideal candidate to actually fight.”

“So plan B was to come to Kiev and promote the idea of ​​many others coming to join the International Legion. We need thousands of people here to fight alongside the Ukrainians,” he explained. 

Routh was previously interviewed by Semafor and the New York Times about his efforts to recruit foreign soldiers for the Eastern European country. 

He told the Times about an intricate plot to seek recruits from among former Afghan soldiers fleeing the Taliban and transfer them to Ukraine to fight Russia. 

“We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan, since it’s such a corrupt country,” he said in an interview.