A former friend of the suspect in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump has revealed the last message he received from him.
Remus Cernea, a Newsweek journalist based in Romania, said he knew Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, from their time spent in Ukraine and once considered him a friend.
But Cernea said he parted company with Routh, who is in custody after shots were fired at Trump National Golf Club in West Palm Beach yesterday, after he sent a message requesting help with VISAs for volunteers who wanted to fight for Ukraine against Vladimir Putin‘s invasion.
Cernea said Routh wanted to fight in the Ukranian International Legion but “there was no chance” because of his lack of military experience.
Cernea described a “child like” misfit who he said rarely spoke about U.S. politics indicated he would “die for Ukraine”.
“Ryan is sometimes a bit like a child, let’s say. Very emotional”, he said.
The last messages sent by Ryan Wesley Routh to Remus Cernea, a war correspondent who met Routh while covering the war in Ukraine.
The pair first met in Kyiv in June 2022, when Routh sat down for a short interview Routh to discuss his activities in Ukraine. They met on two subsequent occasions, and exchanged messages and articles on the ongoing conflict.
In their final exchange, Routh had requested Cernea’s help with visas for foreigners wanting to join the Ukrainian military.
“Last year, he asked me to help him somehow with the visa. He wanted to bring some volunteers, some soldiers for the International Legion.”
The International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine, also called the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, is a military unit of the Ukrainian Army composed of foreign volunteers.According to Cernea, Routh spent his time in Ukraine recruiting for the branch, and would have joined himself if it were not for his lack of military experience.
On August 14, 2023, Routh “tried to bring some people from Asia to Ukraine, but they needed the visa, and the visa is not so easy to get,” Cernea said. “Of course, it was over my powers. I couldn’t help him in any way.”
Cernea did not respond to Routh’s request, believing it would violate journalistic ethics. He instead sent Routh another article he had published on the war in Ukraine, to which Routh replied: “Thanks so much.”
Cernea told Newsweek that the last time they met in Summer 2023, Routh’s state of mind had changed, and he had become “disappointed” by the way support for Ukraine had gone.
“Maybe he thought that Trump is not a friend of Ukraine. Maybe if Trump wins, [Routh thought] id for Ukraine will stop,” Cernea told Newsweek.
In a June 2022 interview with Newsweek Romania, Routh spoke about his efforts to recruit volunteers for the International Legion Defense of Ukraine, a unit of Ukraine’s Ground Forces.
“The question as far as why I’m here… to me, a lot of the other conflicts are grey, but this conflict is definitely black and white,” Routh said.
“This is about good versus evil. This is a storybook, you know, any movie we’ve ever watched, this is definitely evil against good.”
Trump, who was not injured in the incident and described it on Truth Social as an “interesting day”, has been skeptical about of military support for Ukraine, prompting speculation that Routh could have been motivated by frustration with the U.S. stance on the conflict.
West Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a news conference on Sunday that a U.S. Secret Service (USSS) agent spotted the barrel of a rifle sticking out the fence of the golf course and “engaged” with the suspect. The gunman may have got to within 300 yards of Trump, law enforcement said at the conference.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed to Newsweek that it is also investigating the shooting.
This marks the second assassination attempt against the former president. On July 13, during a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump was shot and hit in his upper right ear by Thomas Matthew Crooks. The 20-year old fired eight rounds at Trump, which killed one audience member and critically injured two others.
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