Police crime scene vehicles are seen at the Trump International Golf Club after police closed off the area following an assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, in West Palm Beach, Florida, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Records show that Routh, 58, spent most of his life in North Carolina before moving to Kawa, Hawaii, in 2018. There, he and his son operated a company that built sheds, according to an archived version of the business’s webpage.
Routh often posted on social media about the war in Ukraine and had a website on which he wanted to raise money and recruit volunteers to go to Kiev and join the fight against Russian aggression. A photo of Routh posted on the webpage shows him smiling, wearing a T-shirt and jacket decorated with American flags.
In June 2020, he made a post on X calling on then-President Trump to win re-election by issuing an executive order directing the Justice Department to prosecute police misconduct.
That year, he also posted in support of the Democratic presidential campaign of Tulsi Gabbard, then the U.S. representative from Hawaii, who later threw her support behind Trump.
However, in recent years, his posts have increasingly appeared to express support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris while expressing displeasure with Trump.
In July, after the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania, Routh urged Biden and Harris to visit those injured in the shooting in the hospital and attend the funeral of a fireman killed at the rally.
One post on Routh's feed, apparently addressed to Harris, said, “Trump will never do anything for her … will show the world what compassion and humanity are.”
Voter registration records show he registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina in 2012, and most recently voted in person during the state's Democratic Party primary election in March 2024.
According to federal campaign finance records, Routh has also made 19 small political donations totaling $140 using his Hawaii address to a political action committee called ActBlue since 2019. ActBlue is a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates.
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