The Scoop
Ryan Routh, charged on Monday following an apparent attempted assassination of Donald Trump, told Semafor he blanketed congressional offices last year to enlist support for his plans to aid Ukraine – naming a pair of House members as particularly open to it.
As part of D.C. outreach designed to boost his proposal for using foreign soldiers to help Ukraine’s war effort against Russia, Routh told Semafor last year that he visited 200 House offices in one day and planned to visit 200 more. He also claimed to have visited all 100 Senate offices several days earlier.
Routh identified “maybe four or five [offices] that were very, very receptive” to his cause during his Hill visits, he told Semafor then, naming Reps. Barry Moore, R-Ala. and Seth Moulton, D-Mass. That small percentage of offices he described as helpful illustrates that, long before his alleged targeting of Trump on the former president’s West Palm Beach golf course on Sunday, Routh was largely treated as a fringe figure in the halls of Congress.
Moore has “been very, very instrumental in giving us some information to get back to Ukraine to make them feel more comfortable,” Routh told Semafor in March 2023. He described Moore’s office as assisting with “background checks for Camp Lejeune,” though it’s not clear what component of his efforts that referred to.
Routh continued in the interview: “There was a Mr. Moulton yesterday that’s a veteran, that’s a representative that was very adamant about not pulling out of Afghanistan. He was very, very receptive yesterday.”
Both Moore’s and Moulton’s offices said any interaction with Routh was not meaningful, noting that he had talked to staff and not the respective lawmakers.
“A staffer in our office met with Routh and referred him to the State Department to assist with his concerns,” Madison Green, a spokesperson for Moore, told Semafor. “Congressman Moore never met with Routh, and our office did not respond to any more of his inquiries.”
“Mr. Routh visited our Washington office without an appointment,” Sydney Simon, spokesperson for Moulton, told Semafor in a statement. “Per office policy, walk-ins may speak with the relevant policy staffer if requested. Mr. Routh spoke briefly with a staff member at the time, but it was quickly apparent that his views merited no further engagement.”Routh had “no interactions with Congressman Moulton, nor did we respond to any further outreach,” Simon added.
One person familiar with Routh’s drop-in to Moulton’s office characterized the alleged would-be assassin as “kooky.”
Routh told Semafor last year that he visited the White House and the State Department as well but was turned away in both places.
Know More
Routh made his first appearance in a federal courtroom in Florida to face a pair of federal gun charges related to his alleged attack on Trump. He is charged with possessing a firearm as a felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, per a federal criminal complaint.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that he’d told the newspaper last year he was in D.C. to meet with the Helsinki Commission for “two hours.” That independent panel is tasked with promoting democracy in former Soviet bloc countries, with members of the House and Senate serving as commissioners.
A congressional aide told Semafor that Helsinki Commission meetings are open to the public and that the panel had no record of meetings with Routh at a staff or commissioner level.