Monday, April 21, 2025

DOJ: Ryan Routh Tried Buying Rocket Launcher from Ukrainian before Trump Assassination Attempt

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A flurry of court filings hit the docket Monday in the Justice Department’s case against Ryan Routh, revealing bombshell new details about Routh’s activities in the months leading up to his alleged assassination attempt against Donald Trump last September—including that he tried buying a rocket launcher and a “stinger” missile from an associate in Ukraine weeks beforehand.

Along with several other motions, the DOJ filed a notice about the evidence it intends to introduce about Routh’s purported plans to kill Trump. According to that DOJ motion, Routh used aliases, he was in touch with a human smuggler in Mexico about an escape plan, and he attempted to buy a .50 caliber sniper rifle in late August.

An Escape Plan to Mexico?

The DOJ’s motion states that Routh was in touch with the Mexican smuggler, identified in court records only as “Ramiro,” since at least February 2024, when they discussed smuggling an Afghan family into the U.S.

“While this February chat involved smuggling others, it is necessary context for how that same chat evolved on September 13th and 14th, the two days before Routh set up his sniper hide at Trump International, when he contacted Ramiro for the first time since February 29,” the DOJ’s motion states.

“On those two days, Routh told Ramiro that he would be in Mexico City in the days immediately after September 15, with Ramiro responding that he would see Routh then and that he was located four hours outside of Mexico City and with Routh replying that he would call Ramiro once he knew for sure whether he’d meet him—something Routh planned through extensive web searches about travel to Mexico.”

Apparently, Routh’s contact with the Mexican smuggler was just one element of his escape plan. The DOJ also said in its motion that Routh used stolen license plates, burner phones, and aliases, including “John White” and “Brian Wilson.”

Missing Missiles

If Routh’s covert dealings with a Mexican human smuggler weren’t surprising enough, the DOJ also said in its motion that he tried buying a anti-aircraft weapons from a Ukrainian associate last August. As has been widely documented, Routh was an avid Ukraine supporter who travelled there after Russia’s invasion in early 2022. He volunteered to fight, but was rejected due to his age—leaving him to recruit others for the warfighting effort.

“Routh told his associate to ‘send me an rpg [rocket propelled grenade] or stinger and I will see what we can do… [Trump] is not good for Ukraine,’ which led the two to discuss Routh’s purchase options, with Routh asking about the price and whether his associate could ‘ship it to me????’ before then explaining his intent: ‘I need equipment so that Trump cannot get elected,’” the DOJ’s motion states.

“The two then exchanged messages about price and logistics that included Routh writing, ‘going to the local store for such an item is impossible—however you are at war so those items lost and destroyed daily—one missing would not be noticed. Do you think Trump will be good for Ukraine?????’” the DOJ’s motion continues.

“The two continued to discuss the possibility of Routh securing a rocket or missile launcher, with Routh sending his associate an image of President Trump’s plane and writing ‘Trump’s plane, he gets on and off daily.’”

Even though some of the above actions aren’t directly related to Routh’s actions on Sept. 15, the DOJ argued that they show his overall commitment to act against Trump.

The DOJ’s stunning motion comes more than a year after the Defense Department’s inspector general reported in January 2024 that the Pentagon failed to properly track more than $1 billion in weaponry sent to Ukraine—including stinger missiles, which were popularized when the U.S. gave them to the Afghan mujahideen for its fight against Russia in the 1980s.

According to the IG report, the Pentagon failed to track roughly $1 billion out of the $1.7 billion in “enhanced end-use monitoring,” or EEUM, weapons sent to Ukraine. EEUM weapons are those that have a high risk for being diverted for other uses, and the Defense Department is supposed to take extra steps to make sure they reach their intended destination.

Weapons designated as EEUM include tomahawk missiles, stinger missiles, night-vision devices, javelins and a variety of other missiles and bombs.

The IG report didn’t say whether any weapons have actually been diverted for other purposes, stating that such issues are “beyond the scope of our evaluation.”

The DOJ motion also follows reports that Routh was communicating with British-trained Afghan commandos who were abandoned there after Kabul fell in 2021, and who are now living in Iran.

Other Routh Motions

Also on Monday, Routh’s attorneys argued that the DOJ’s firearms charges against him should be dismissed on Second Amendment grounds, and that the DOJ should be barred from using a witness against Routh because the FBI manipulated that witness. The DOJ countered by asking Judge Aileen Cannon to prohibit Routh from mounting bizarre legal defenses, such as that he was morally justified in plotting to assassinate Trump.

Routh’s next court hearing is set for April 15, when the motions described above will presumably be discussed. He is set to stand trial in September.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

14-Year-Old American Citizen Killed by Israeli Forces in West Bank

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.comOn Monday, Palestinians in the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya held a funeral for Omar Mohammad Rabee, a 14-year-old American citizen who was killed by Israeli fire a day earlier.

Lafi Shalabi, the mayor of Turmus Ayya, said Rabee was shot alongside two other boys, including Ayoub Jabara, a 15-year-old who also has American citizenship and is in intensive care. The third boy, 15-year-old Abdulrahman Shihada, was also hospitalized.

According to The Washington Post, Shalabi said the boys were shot by Israeli troops while picking green almonds near a highway.

The Israeli military hasn’t confirmed that it killed an American citizen but claimed it fired on three “terrorists” in the area who were throwing rocks at cars and killed one. Earlier this year, Israeli media reported that the IDF expanded its “open-fire orders” in the West Bank, leading to an uptick in the killing of children in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The US State Department confirmed in a statement to Antiwar.com that an American citizen was killed in the West Bank but didn’t offer much comment besides mentioning the Israeli military’s side of the story. “We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” a State Department spokesperson said.

“We acknowledge the IDF initial statement that expressed that this incident occurred during a counter-terrorism operation and that Israel is investigating. Out of respect for the privacy of the family during this difficult time, we have no further comment at this time,” the spokesperson added.

Rabee was from Saddle Brook, a town in northern New Jersey’s Bergen Country. According to NorthJersey.com, mourners gathered on Sunday for prayers at the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton, New Jersey. The center said in a statement that the Israeli military delayed the ambulance that was carrying Rabee.

“Amer was shot by Israeli military officers along with two other 15-year-olds from the village,” the center said. “The ambulance was not allowed to pass the checkpoint for 30 minutes, a denial in medical treatment that ultimately resulted in Amer’s death. Amer’s death was entirely preventable and horrifically unjust. He was a child, a 14-year-old boy, with an entire life ahead of him.”

Rabee’s mother told the Post that her son planned to move back to the US after high school to be with his four older siblings. The village of Turmus Ayya is known as “Little America” because about 80% of its population has American citizenship.

Turmus Ayya has been the target of Israeli settler violence, which has skyrocketed in recent years, and its American residents have pleaded with the US government for help. In one incident in July 2023, settlers set fire to dozens of homes and cars in the village and killed Omar Qateen, a 27-year-old permanent American resident, who Rabee was buried alongside.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

 

U.S. and Iran To Hold Negotiations This Saturday

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.comOn Monday, President Trump claimed the US and Iran would be holding direct talks this Saturday, although Iranian officials later said the negotiations would be indirect.

While hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House, Trump said the talks would be held at a “high level” and that reaching a deal with Iran on its nuclear program would be better than the alternative, referring to his recent threat to bomb Iran and the US military buildup in the Middle East.

According to Axios, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that ” high-level” negotiations will be held this Saturday in Oman but that they will be indirect, meaning mediators will pass messages between the two sides.

Trump said that if the talks aren’t successful, Iran would be “in great danger.” He has been threatening Iran over its nuclear program even though US intelligence agencies recently reaffirmed that Tehran is not building a nuclear weapon.

Tehran has maintained that it will not hold direct talks with the US in the face of increasing US sanctions and military threats.

Araghchi said on Sunday it didn’t make sense for Tehran to hold direct talks with a country that “constantly threatens to resort to force in violation of the UN Charter and that expresses contradictory positions from its various officials.”

Araghchi said Iran remains “committed to diplomacy and are ready to try the path of indirect negotiations.”

Trump and Netanyahu said they discussed Iran during a closed-door meeting but didn’t elaborate. Recent reports have said that the US is planning to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities with Israel.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

 

District Courts Have Little Authority to Block Trump’s Actions, SCOTUS Rules

(Thérèse Boudreaux, The Center Square) With the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Friday that a district court cannot block the president from terminating federal contracts, President Donald Trump will likely face much less legal pushback as he continues efforts to downsize the federal government.

The 5-4 decision reversed a temporary restraining order issued by a Boston federal court that blocked the Trump administration’s decision to cancel $65 million in grants for teacher training programs that included diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The majority reasoned that while temporary restraining orders are generally not appealable, the judge’s order – like many recently issued from or requested of other district courts – functions the same as a preliminary injunction, which is appealable.

The district court judge in this case had issued the restraining order under the Administrative Procedure Act, which allows for repealing final agency actions.

But presidential actions do not qualify as agency actions, and the APA is not meant to compel the fulfillment of federal contractual obligations, the justices said. Instead, the Court of Federal Claims is supposed to hear lawsuits regarding federal contracts.

“[The ruling] makes very clear that these remedies for money damages based on contracts have to go to the Court of Federal Claims,” Devin Watkins, an attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told The Center Square. “Congress has set up its own special court system specifically to handle these kinds of issues – these kinds of issues need to be sent there.”

Given the limited jurisdiction of the Court of Federal Claims, the grantees in the case could possibly receive money damages but wouldn’t see the reinstatement of the federal contract, Watkins added.

Thomas Berry, director of the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, said the case sets an important legal precedent that “could have a lot of applicability to the other claims that the executive branch needs to spend money that was statutorily required.”

“A lot of these other temporary restraining orders being issued by district courts are going to be appealed and circuit courts are more likely to construe those as appealable preliminary injunctions on the basis of this precedent,” Berry told The Center Square.

Conservative legal scholars who accused district judges of overstepping their authority are celebrating the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“Hopefully this means that district court judges will finally start obeying the rules,” Hans von Spakovsky, manager of The Heritage Foundation’s Election Law Reform Initiative, told The Center Square. “The judge in this case ought to know that…This federal judge violated the law.”

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith Makes Announcement About 2028 Rumors

(Luis CornelioHeadline USA) ESPN and podcast host Stephen A. Smith broke his silence Monday about growing rumors that he is considering a run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028. 

In an X post that has garnered more than 1 million views, Smith declared that he is fed up with the status quo and is considering all options, including mounting a presidential campaign. 

“Time to stop messing around,” he wrote. “Life is great. Especially at ESPN/Disney. Hate the thought of being a politician. But sick of this mess. So I’m officially leaving all doors open.” 

Smith has previously flirted with the idea of running for president since President Donald Trump resoundingly defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. At NAB Show in Las Vegas, he allegedly said he has “no choice but to get more serious about it.” 

“I’ve been approached by people on Capitol Hill. I’ve been approached by people who are elected officials in office—whether it’s governors or mayors. … I have no desire to be a politician, but I’ve decided that I’m no longer going to close that door,” Smith claimed. 

He continued, “I’m gonna keep my options open. I’m going to entertain the possibility. If it comes in late 2026, 2027, where I look at this country and think it’s an absolute mess and there’s legitimate reason to believe … that I indeed have a legitimate shot to win the presidency of the United States. I am not going to rule it out.” 

Smith’s remarks come months after he repeatedly rebuked the Democratic Party over its failed policies. 

For instance, Smith pressed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries over the party’s hatred of President Donald Trump, arguing that despite Trump’s impeachments and criminal record, he was still reelected. 

In another example, he ripped the left for repeatedly downplaying inconvenient facts as conspiracy theories. 

“I’m really, really sick and tired of every time I turn around, finding something else that the Democrats have lied about, or downplayed or misrepresented along the way,” Smith said. 

His comments followed the DOJ’s Inspector General affirming that there were 26 FBI informants at the January 6, 2021, protests. 

“We didn’t hear anything about that before the election… [nor] when the ‘insurrection’ was broached by Vice President Kamala Harris … by President Biden before her, by Democrats in both the House and Senate, as they articulated the belief that Donald Trump was a danger to democracy and using this as a profound, illuminating bullet point to make that case,” Smith stated. 

He continued, “And now, here we are again, finding even more evidence to Donald Trump’s claim when he articulated: ‘The process is rigged. The Democrats are this or that, talking about us, but look at what they do.’” 

DOJ Files Secret Motion in Trump Attempted Assassination Case

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) In its ongoing case against alleged would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh, the Justice Department filed a motion on Monday that not even Routh’s attorneys are allowed to see.

The DOJ’s sealed, ex parte motion was filed pursuant to the Classified Information Procedures Act, which allows the U.S. government to keep state secrets just that: secret—even if it negatively impacts the rights of a defendant. The government’s motion seeks to keep some evidence under wraps, apparently because it’s classified.

 

The DOJ hasn’t signaled what evidence could be classified in Routh’s case, but it could pertain to his travels to Ukraine and connections to the U.S. intelligence community. Routh was recruiting fighters to go to Ukraine up to within days of his alleged Sept. 15 assassination attempt.

Routh is set to stand trial in September. His case is at least the second Trump assassination case to involve classified information.

In December, the DOJ filed a similar motion to keep classified information secret in the case of Asif Merchant, the Pakistani man who allegedly tried hiring two hitmen in an Iranian-sponsored assassination plot against Trump.

As Headline USA has detailed, the notion that Iran conspired to assassinate Trump is highly dubious. In the Merchant case, the two hitmen he attempted to hire were undercover FBI agents introduced to him by one of their informants. Merchant appears to have been an unwitting dupe in an FBI sting operation.

However, the evidence that would prove whether Merchant was a legitimate assassin or an FBI patsy may never see the light of day, thanks to CIPA.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Pentagon Admits Strikes Have Limited Success in Yemen, Coming at High Cost

(Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar.com) Department of Defense officials are telling Congress behind closed doors that it does not believe the new military campaign in Yemen has degraded the Houthis’ military capabilities. Within a month, the operations will cost over $1 billion.

According to the New York Times, the Pentagon informed Capitol Hill that the new operations against the Houthis – or Ansar Allah – have had “limited success.” The Houthis have reinforced their underground bunker, frustrating the White House.

The private assessment to Congress is far different from the public messages from the White House. “These Houthi strikes have been incredibly successful,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “Last time I was at this podium, there were more than 100 successful strikes. There have now been over 200 successful strikes – Iran is incredibly weakened as a result of these attacks.”

On March 15, President Donald Trump announced that he would restart President Joe Biden’s bombing campaign in Yemen at an accelerated pace. In January 2024, Biden ordered his Pentagon to attack the Houthis after the group closed the Red Sea to Israeli-linked shipping in an effort to pressure Tel Aviv to end its genocide in Gaza.

Biden’s attacks on Yemen proved ineffective as Ansar Allah expanded the blockade of shipping to US-linked commerce. The group has also attacked US warships in the region and conducted direct missile and drone strikes on Israel.

In January, Hamas and Tel Aviv reached a ceasefire and hostage, leading Ansar Allah to lift its blockade and end attacks on US ships and Israel. After Tel Aviv broke that agreement, the Houthis announced they would reimpose their blockade on Israeli-linked shipping.

In a now infamous Signal chat, Trump’s top national security officials discussed resuming the bombing of Yemen. Vice President JD Vance was the only participant in the chat to dissent, claiming that the bombing campaign benefited Europe at the expense of the American taxpayer.

Vance did not note that the primary beneficiary of the policy is Tel Aviv. In the Signal chat, several officials celebrated the bombing of an apartment building in Yemen’s capital city, believing an Ansar Allah official was inside the structure. That target was hit with intelligence from Tel Aviv.

Officials speaking with the Times confirmed that the Department of Defense continues to use Israeli intelligence to generate targets in Yemen.

During the first week of bombing Yemen, at least 25 civilians were killed in the US strikes. Yemeni officials say a total of 60 civilians have died from the American bombs.

Following the US resumption of the bombing of Yemen, the Houthis have also restated targeting US warships and Israel with missiles.

Trump administration officials have stated that its bombing of Yemen will successfully deter Ansar Allah, even though that policy failed under the previous administration. They argue that heavier strikes will erode the Houthis’ military capabilities.

While the Pentagon said the renewed bombing campaign has not degraded the Houthi power, it has come at a significant price.

The Times reports that the Pentagon has spent $200 million on munitions to strike Yemen. The additional deployment of two aircraft carrier strike groups and B-2 bombers will push the total cost of the operations to over $1 billion next week.

The price of striking Yemen is so high, in part due to Ansar Allah’s air defense capabilities. In recent weeks, the Houthis have downed multiple Reaper Drones. This has led the Pentagon to use longer-range missiles to strike Houthi targets.

Some Defense officials have expressed concern that the administration is using too many munitions in Yemen and degrading the military’s ability to fight a potential war with China.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

Poll: Obama Would Lead Trump if 3rd Presidential Term Was Allowed

(Jon Styf, The Center Square) Former President Barack Obama would lead President Donald Trump 53% to 47% if the 22nd Amendment was changed to allow presidents to serve a third term, according to a new poll released Monday from Overton Insights.

The poll included interviews with 1,200 registered voters across the U.S. between March 24-28.

Trump would lead former Vice President Kamala Harris 48% to 45% if the pair were to face off today, the poll showed.

“These results are fascinating, offering a clear window into how perennial undecided voters view the current administration,” said Overton Insights Poll Director Mark Cunningham. “Despite President Trump’s approval being underwater (-5%), 2024 voters show no signs of buyer’s remorse – Trump even edges out Harris by a slightly wider margin. But when offered a Democrat they actually like, such as former President Barack Obama, voters – especially Independents and moderates – swing decisively toward him.”

The poll also looked at a hypothetical 2028 Republican primary race without Trump, showing that Vice President J.D. Vance leads the field with 36% of the vote, followed by Donald Trump Jr. (31%), Ron DeSantis (13%), Vivek Ramaswamy (6%), and Marco Rubio (6%).

Harris has a large lead amongst Democrats (48%), followed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (15%), California Gov. Gavin Newsom (10%), Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (9%), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (6%), Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (3%), and sports commentator Stephen A. Smith (2%).

US Deploys Second THAAD Missile System to Israel Amid Iran Tensions

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The United States has deployed a second Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to Israel, multiple Israeli and Arab media reports said over the weekend.

Israeli security sources also said that the US deployed two Patriot air defense batteries to Israel. US officials previously told The Wall Street Journal that the US was sending Patriot systems to “defend US air bases and nearby allies” as part of its military buildup in the Middle East that’s aimed at Iran.

The US has also sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, deployed additional B-2 bombers to its base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, and sent other additional air assets to the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former US Ambassador David Friedman visit a US THAAD that was temporarily deployed in Israel on March 6, 2019 (US Air Force photo)

The Biden administration sent a THAAD system to Israel and about 100 troops to operate it in October 2024, ahead of an Israeli attack on Iran. The first Trump administration temporarily deployed a THAAD to Israel for military exercises in 2019.

The THAAD system the Biden administration deployed to Israel remains, meaning two out of the seven THAAD batteries the US operates are based in the country.

The deployment of the second THAAD system and two Patriot batteries to Israel suggests hundreds more US troops could be headed to the country as well. The deployment is a strong show of support for Israel amid its genocidal war in Gaza, ramped-up military operations in the West Bank, continued occupation of southern Lebanon, and invasion of southern Syria.

The deployment comes amid reports that the US and Israel are planning to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities even though US intelligence agencies recently reaffirmed that Tehran is not building a nuclear weapon.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

Making Sense of Last Week’s Price Drop In Precious Metals

(Clint Siegner, Money Metals News Service) Silver prices dropped 12% in the final two trading days of last week. Gold lost 2.6%.

While gold has held up relatively well, silver fell in tandem with the general stock market after President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs against nations that impose a levy on goods from the U.S.

Bullion was exempted; gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins, rounds, and bars will not be subject to the tariff.

This news provided some of the impetus for heavy selling in the futures markets.

Long speculators, who made leveraged bets that tariffs would drive metal prices higher, discovered they had gambled and lost.

The big sell-off highlights a frustrating truth about bullion investing. In the short term, metal prices are impacted, in large part, by organizations that bullion investors have almost nothing in common with.

Shorter-term price movements are driven by money flows in the leveraged futures markets.

In the futures market:

  • Investors mostly have a short-term mindset. The longest-dated contract with major volume matures within a few months.
  • There is more than 10-to-1 leverage built into futures contracts. That often makes for weak hands. Investors who don’t have the deep pockets or the stomach needed to hang on when a bet goes against them will sell.
  • The motivations are entirely different. Nobody buys a futures contract because they care about things like having something to pass on to the grandkids. In fact, a lot of the trading isn’t even done by humans; instead, it’s often algorithmic or machine trading.
  • Speculators in the futures market play a zero-sum game. One party is betting on higher prices and the counterparty is betting prices will go down.
  • The playing field is not level. There are smaller fish, with shallow pockets and without tricks and tools at their disposal. They are often paired against whales: bullion banks with deep pockets, plenty of extra tools, and, unfortunately, a history of dirty tricks.
  • The futures market has rules which are subject to change without notice. These changes often happen during moments of extreme trading activity. For example, the COMEX raised margin requirements in the middle of last week’s selloff. The move put even more long investors underwater, thereby ramping the pressure on them to sell.
  • The supply of contracts is effectively unlimited. The Hunt brothers might be the last people who were turned away when trying to buy a silver contract, and that was in 1980. Since then, the bullion banks have been able to sop up any amount of demand with a contract for everyone who wants to buy one.

In the retail bullion market:

  • Investors tend to buy with the intention of holding long-term. Nearly all of the players in the market are individual investors motivated by instincts for wealth preservation and reducing counterparty risk.
  • There is no leverage.
  • There is no counterparty when an investor buys coins, rounds, and bars – especially not a bullion bank with a rap sheet.
  • There is an actual cap on supply. Bullion markets are limited to the metal on the shelf.

For anyone frustrated by short-term price action in metals, here is more suggested reading. The futures markets were created, in part, to discourage physical ownership of gold and silver.

Suffice it to say, that if price discovery in gold and silver was done in the physical markets, rather than the futures markets, the price action would be different.

Last week is a prime example. Very few people who own physical metal saw the news regarding tariffs and decided it was time to sell.

Rather bullion investors saw the price drop as an opportunity to buy.

Friday was the busiest day in a couple of years in terms of buying. And the number of people selling was way down.


Clint Siegner is a Director at Money Metals Exchange, a precious metals dealer recently named “Best in the USA” by an independent global ratings group. A graduate of Linfield College in Oregon, Siegner puts his experience in business management along with his passion for personal liberty, limited government, and honest money into the development of Money Metals’ brand and reach. This includes writing extensively on the bullion markets and their intersection with policy and world affairs.