Homeland Security official confirms Trump assassination suspect flagged by feds

A Homeland Security official confirmed Wednesday to Congress reports border protection agents flagged future would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh and referred him to the agency's investigative arm for further scrutiny when he returned to the country from a 2023 trip to Ukraine. 

The agency official said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing that, from the material she reviewed, there was not enough evidence to take Routh immediately into custody, but could not confirm whether HSI declined to pursue an investigation into the suspect after that encounter as records suggest. 

Just the News first reported Tuesday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection flagged the the suspect in the assassination plot against former President Donald Trump, Ryan Routh, during a return trip from Ukraine in 2023. 

The border protections officials referred Routh to HSI for investigation, but the agency declined to do so, according to border entry records reviewed by Just the News. HSI is the lead investigative organ of the Homeland Security Department tasked with probing national security threats and transnational crime like human or drug trafficking. 

“Ryan Roth is the person who attempted to assassinate President Trump at his golf club in Florida, and did was Ryan Roth ever referred to HSI for further investigation of his activities?” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., asked the HSI official. 

“I recently, just this morning, learned there was an article that…when he entered back into the country from overseas, CBP had contacted HSI and I read all of the items, the things that he was stating, and basically, as a U.S. citizen returning to our country from Ukraine as a freedom fighter, based on the information that I read, there would not have been any reason to immediately take him into custody,” said Katrina Berger Executive Associate Director of HSI. 

“He had not made any threats, for instance, against the president or former President Trump,” she added. 

Berger confirmed Just the News’ reporting that CBP officials did flag Routh and referred him to HSI for investigation. However, HSI “refused the case,” according to the memo reviewed by Just the News.  

Berger could not confirm whether her agency declined to investigate further, but promised to get back to the committee with an answer. 

“Here's what you got to answer for me, when CBP refers this to HSI, what I believe happened is HSI declined, not only to incarcerate this person, but to further investigate the person,” Gaetz said. “Are you saying that they declined to investigate, or that that investigation went forward and the attempted assassination occurred during the pendency of that investigation?”

“I would have to have to look into that a little bit further. Sir, I will get back to you on that,” Berger replied. 

The border protection records show that CBP officials knew that Routh had traveled to Warsaw, Poland, near the Ukraine border, and to Istanbul, Turkey, in 2022 and 2023 and had admitted in his interview that he had been recruiting as many as 100 foreign fighters from Taiwan, Afghanistan and Moldova to join Ukraine's war against the Russian invasion.

The memo shows Routh told investigators that did all his work on a volunteer basis and received funding from his wife to fund his travel to Ukraine.