(Ken Silva, Headline USA) It’s been widely reported that the second failed Trump assassin had previously travelled to Ukraine in early 2022 to protest Russia’s invasion, and that he later started recruiting foreign fighters for the war.
And according to a Sunday report from The Independent, the alleged gunman, Ryan Routh, was attempting to recruit fighters up to days within his Sept. 15 assassination attempt. According to The Independent, Routh was communicating with British-trained Afghan commandos who were abandoned there after Kabul fell in 2021, and who are now living in Iran.
“One former special forces soldier, Hafizullah, who is living in Iran, ended up communicating with Routh’s Whatsapp about potentially going to help Ukraine. Hafizullah served for eight years in a specialist unit known as Commando Force 333, which was set up and run by the British,” The Independent reported.
Ryan Routh was reportedly texting with a UK-trained Afghan commando living in Iran days before his alleged attempt on Donald Trump's life — giving that person advice on going to Ukraine. The Independent published screenshots Saturday. pic.twitter.com/bHrB3XKA9S
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) November 25, 2024
“Screen shots Hafizullah provided of his WhatsApp communication show Routh apparently encouraging him to send him a CV on 12 September—three days before he was arrested near Trump’s Florida golf course,” the outlet wrote.
“Hafizullah, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, said that he had been in contact with Routh on and off for two years. He said a friend of his, a former commander in the Afghan military, had passed on his number to Routh.”
The Independent said it corroborated the communications by matching the number the Afghan commando was using with Routh’s “Fight for Ukraine” website. The Whatsapp profile also matches the profile Routh was reportedly using.
Last year, Routh told the New York Times in an interview last year that he was seeking recruits for Ukraine from among Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban.
“He said he planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine,” the Times reported in September, after Routh’s failed attempt on Trump’s life.
“He said he planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine. He said dozens had expressed interest.”
Chelsea Walsh, a nurse who had several encounters with Routh in Kyiv, reported him to Customs and Border Protection in June 2022—telling agents that “Routh was among the most dangerous Americans she met during her month-and-a-half-long stint in Ukraine.”
Walsh again reported him to the FBI and Interpol last year, after she heard that was attempting to recruit Syrian refugees to fight in Ukraine.
“She filed an online report with the FBI and Interpol outlining her concerns about Routh and others, she said. Neither Customs nor the FBI followed up with her,” the Wall Street Journal reported in September.
“But after the apparent attempt on Trump’s life Sunday, she called the FBI tip line and reported her concerns about Routh again in a 22-minute conversation.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
