Russians Blame Ukraine for Attempted Trump Assassination
Russians Blame Ukraine for Attempted Trump Assassination
PLUS: “BlueAnon” Resurrects Staged Assassination Claim; Routh’s Political Ambiguity Sparks False Claims
Welcome to Reality Check, your inside look at how misinformation online is undermining trust — and who’s behind it.
Special Edition: The Second Failed Trump Assassination Attempt
Today:
Pro-Russian sources claim Ukraine hired Trump’s would-be assassin
Repeat offenders: Left-wing sources again claim the attempt on Trump’s life was “staged”
Partisans on both sides say the suspected assassin belongs to the other side
Hidden asset: Trump’s would-be assassin falsely linked to BlackRock
And more…
Today’s newsletter was edited by Jack Brewster, Eric Effron, and Sofia Rubinson.
1. Kremlin Claims Ukraine Hired Trump’s Would-Be Assassin
What happened: Pro-Kremlin and Russian state media sources are baselessly claiming that Ryan Wesley Routh — identified by authorities as being connected to an apparent attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his Florida golf club on Sept. 15, 2024 — is a Ukrainian agent hired by Kyiv to kill Trump.
Context: Routh, 58, a vocal Trump critic, was arrested after he was allegedly seen fleeing the edge of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where Secret Service agents spotted a rifle pointing out of the tree line while Trump was golfing, U.S. officials said.
Following Routh’s arrest, reports emerged that he was an avid supporter of Ukraine who had traveled to Ukraine and attempted to recruit members for Ukraine's International Legion, a volunteer unit of foreign fighters.
A closer look: Pro-Kremlin sources used Routh’s history of supporting Ukraine to assert that he was acting on behalf of the Ukrainian government and that the apparent assassination attempt was orchestrated by Kyiv.
The narrative appears to have originated with a Sept. 16, 2024, X post from Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former president of Russia. He wrote, “I wonder what would happen if it turned out that the failed new Trump shooter Routh, who recruited mercenaries for the Ukrainian army, was himself hired by the neo-nazi regime in Kiev for this assassination attempt?” The post generated 757,000 views and 22,000 likes and reposts.
Pro-Kremlin websites and social media users then took the claim a step further, explicitly declaring that Routh was, in fact, working for the Ukrainian government. For example, a Sept. 16, 2024, post from the pro-Russian X account BRICS News stated, “JUST IN: Ex-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says second failed Donald Trump assassin (Ryan Routh) was acting under Ukraine's direction.” (Medvedev raised the question but did not declare that the suspect worked for Ukraine.)
The narrative was advanced by U.S. conservative commentators including Tim Pool, who was accused in a federal indictment of receiving $100,000 per episode as part of the alleged covert Russian-financed propaganda campaign. Pool has denied wrongdoing and said he was a “victim” of the scheme. (See NewsGuard co-CEO Gordon Crovitz’s commentary on the indictment here.)
“We must investigate Ukrainian involvement in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump,” Pool said in an episode published on his website TimCast.com (Trust Score: 69.5/100).
Actually: Ukrainian officials refuted claims that Routh had any links to the Ukrainian government or military. “American citizen Ryan Routh has never served in the International Legion of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine [and] has no relation to the unit,” Ukraine's International Legion wrote in a Sept. 16, 2024, statement on X. “Rumors disseminated in certain media are not true.”
Shelby Magid, deputy director of the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, told Politico in September 2024: “Routh’s self-declared connections to and support of Ukraine are exaggerated, and need to be seen within the wider picture of a man who is clearly unwell and delusional. Unfortunately for Ukraine, the combination of Routh’s own exaggeration and Russian propaganda is dangerous.”
At a Sept. 16, 2024, press conference, Miami FBI Field Office's Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri said that the FBI was “still exploring” whether Routh acted alone, but said, “We do not have information that he’s been acting with anyone else at present.”
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2. Déjà Vu: Social Media Claims Trump Threat was “Staged”
By Sofia Rubinson and Sam Howard
Here we go again …
What happened: Left-wing social media users are claiming, without evidence, that the thwarted assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on Sept. 15, 2024, was “staged” to boost his presidential campaign by generating sympathy.
Context: Routh, who was charged in 2002 for “possessing a weapon of mass destruction,” was arrested in an incident that the FBI said “appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.”
A closer look: Within hours, liberal social media users speculated that the Secret Service’s reported encounter with Routh was “staged” or “fake,” presumably to generate sympathy toward the former president.
For example, liberal X user @LakotaMan1 posted a photo of Trump’s bloodied face from the first assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, with the caption: “So, who here agrees that today’s FAKE Trump ‘assassination attempt’ was just as PHONY as the first one?” The post received more than 900,000 views and 38,000 likes in less than a day.
Liberal X user @CoffeyTimeNews posted: “Another fake assassination attempt? They sure are trying all the insane distraction tricks today. Something really big is about to drop.” The post garnered nearly 200,000 views and 4,700 likes in one day.
Sound familiar? In July, both of these users also promoted the claim that the attempted assassination then was staged, as we previously reported in Reality Check. NewsGuard identified eight prominent X accounts that claimed that both the July and September incidents were “staged.”
The emergence of a conspiratorial wing of the left-wing infosphere — referred to as “BlueAnon,” a twist on the right-wing QAnon — signals the growing trend of misinformation spreading across the political spectrum.
Actually: There is no evidence that Trump or anyone else staged the Sept. 15, 2024, incident. After a Secret Service agent fired at Routh when the agent allegedly spotted his rifle in the trees, an eyewitness saw Routh fleeing in a car, law enforcement officials said. The Associated Press (NewsGuard Trust Score: 95/100) published photos showing what law enforcement authorities have said are a weapon, a camera, and backpacks that Routh allegedly left behind when he fled the scene.
When Routh was later pulled over by police, “He never asked, ‘what is this about?’ Obviously, law enforcement with long rifles, blue lights, a lot going on. He never questioned it,” Martin County Sheriff William Snyder told The Associated Press.
NewsGuard’s Misinformation Fingerprint for this narrative can be found here for licensees and here for Reality Check subscribers.
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3. Pick a Side: Both Partisan Camps Claim the Suspect Belongs to the Opposing Party
What happened: Soon after authorities identified Ryan Wesley Routh as the suspect in the alleged attempted assassination of Trump, social media users on both the right and left began claiming on social media that he belonged to the opposing political party. In fact, Routh is neither a registered Republican nor a registered Democrat.
Liberal X user @BigBlueWaveUSA posted a screenshot of an X post from Routh in which he expressed support for Republicans Vivik Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley and said: “Ryan Routh is a registered Republican. … #MAGARepublicans and/or any Republicans are the problem.” The Sept. 15, 2024, post received more than 4,000 views and 150 likes in one day.
Conservative X user @ImMeme0 said on Sept. 15, 2024: “BREAKING: Trumo [sic] shooter was identified as Ryan Routh. He is registered Democrat, Ukraine Loyalist and pro-Palestine according to his Facebook post. Democrats’ rhetoric DIDN’T THIS! [sic].” The post garnered more than 280,000 views and 3,500 likes in one day.
The websites for the British talk-radio station Leading Britain's Conversation (Trust Score: 87.5/100), Indianapolis newspaper The Indy Star (Trust Score: 100/100), and U.K. tabloid The Daily Mail (Trust Score: 69.5/100) all stated in Sept. 16, 2024, articles that Routh was registered as a Democrat. None immediately ran corrections.
Actually: While Routh’s extensive online presence offers a muddled and contradictory view of his political beliefs, his party affiliation has been listed as unaffiliated since at least 2012, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections voter search portal.
Although Routh did cast a ballot in the March 2024 North Carolina Democratic primary, unaffiliated voters in the state are permitted to choose any one political party’s ballot in a primary election, as stated on the Board of Elections website.
All over the place: Routh has donated to ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising platform, supported former Democratic presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard (now a Trump supporter) in 2020, and advocated for Ukraine and Taiwan. He endorsed Trump in 2016 (later expressing disappointment), supported Republicans Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley in the 2024 presidential primary, and pushed a conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was a bioweapon created by China.
NewsGuard’s Misinformation Fingerprint for this narrative can be found here for licensees and here for Reality Check subscribers.
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4. Acting Out: Conspiracy Theorists Falsely Claim Second Attempted Assassin Suspect Appeared in a BlackRock Ad
What happened: Conservative and far-right social media users are circulating a video they say shows Ryan Routh, Trump’s alleged would-be assassin, appearing in a commercial for financial services firm BlockRock. In fact, the short clip is from a rally in Kyiv, Ukraine.
You can watch the clip here:
Context: Why is BlackRock being targeted? Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old who allegedly opened fire at a Trump rally in July 2024 and was killed by authorities, did briefly appear in a 2022 BlackRock ad, as was acknowledged by the company.
The ad, which featured Crooks as one of several students in a scene shot at a school, sparked baseless conspiracy theories about BlackRock’s involvement in the first incident.
A closer look: Now, some are falsely claiming that Routh appeared in a BlackRock ad as well, suggesting some kind of broader conspiracy involving BlackRock.
The earliest appearance of this claim was traced by NewsGuard to a Sept. 15, 2024, X post by Carmine Sabia, a pro-Trump commentator: “BREAKING: Same as the first assassin Thomas Crooks, Ryan Routh also appeared in a BlackRock commercial. That is some coincidence.” The post received 76,400 views and 2,000 likes in one day.
From there, the clip took off among conservative and far-right social media users.
@BGatesIsaPyscho, which routinely publishes baseless conspiracy theories and other misinformation, shared the video clip of Routh and said: “The latest Trump would be assassin - Ryan Routh ALSO appeared in a Blackrock Commerical [sic] just like Thomas Crooks … THESE ARENT COINCIDIENCES [sic].” The post garnered 2.7 million views and 59,000 likes as of Sept. 16, 2024.
On the same day, pro-Trump X user @LangmanVince said: “Ryan Wesley Routh was in a BlackRock commercial, just like Thomas Matthew Crooks. I'm sure it's just a coincidence.” The post received 2.3 million views and 7,800 likes as of Sept. 16, 2024.
Actually: The video featuring Routh cited by these users is not a BlackRock advertisement and does not contain BlackRock’s logo or any other indication that it is affiliated with the investment firm.
“He has never been an employee of BlackRock nor has he appeared in any BlackRock ads,” BlackRock said in a Sept. 16, 2024, X statement. “The video currently circulating on social media featuring Routh has nothing to do with BlackRock.” (BlackRock did not respond to an email from NewsGuard requesting comment.)
The video instead shows footage from an April 30, 2022, rally held in Kyiv’s Independence Square in support of the Azov Brigade, a militia in Ukraine’s National Guard.
Azov Brigade has far-right origins and is a frequent target of Russian disinformation. At the time, the Azov Brigade was guarding the city of Mariupol against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the video, Routh can be seen staring with a somber expression while holding a Ukrainian flag and wearing an American flag bandana around his neck.
The video was first posted in May 2022 by pro-Ukrainian X account SAVE AZOV (@save_mrpl). In the post, the user praised “Mariupol defenders,” which included the Azov Brigade, and said, “Thank you to everyone who supports the Defenders of Mariupol and raises the issue of Mariupol at the international level.”
NewsGuard’s Misinformation Fingerprint for this narrative can be found here for licensees and here for Reality Check subscribers.
Fake Local News Sites Tracker: 1,273 Sites and Counting
In June 2024, NewsGuard reported that so-called pink slime websites — sites posing as independent news outlets but secretly funded by partisan groups — now outnumber daily newspapers in the U.S. Below, we track the spread of pink slime websites, as compared to Northwestern University’s Local News Initiative’s count of daily newspapers. (Northwestern’s tracker was last updated in December 2023.)
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