What do we know about the suspect in the Trump assassination attempt?

The suspect in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump is a staunch supporter of Ukraine who was rejected by the country’s armed forces and who failed to make any significant contribution to the war effort.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, who appeared in court Monday, is from North Carolina and has lived there most of his life, but most recently he lived in Hawaii.

He voted for Trump in 2016 but later turned against him and made statements supporting and contributing to other politicians.

Here are some other things we know about him.

He is suspected of going to the Trump International Golf Course in Florida on Sunday armed with an SKS-style rifle. The FBI recovered the weapon and scope, two backpacks and a GoPro camera from an area surrounded by bushes.

Law enforcement agencies allege that Routh fled the area when a Secret Service agent observed the barrel of a rifle protruding from the bushes, and opened fire on him.

He is not believed to have fired his own gun during the incident, and is not believed to have been explicitly aiming his eyes at Trump at any point.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said two deputies spotted Routh's car, a black Nissan, and pursued it for 45 minutes.

Routh was stopped on Interstate 95, a major highway, and arrested.

He was initially charged with a federal firearms offense. The affidavit said Routh's phone was in the “vicinity” of the covered area for 12 hours.

It was later discovered that the license plates on the car, a Nissan SUV, belonged to a 2012 Ford that had been reported stolen.

BBC Verify found several social media profiles with similar name to Rauth.

Routh has repeatedly touted his work in encouraging foreign fighters to travel to Ukraine to fight against Russia.

However, most of their organizing appears to have taken place in the US, not Ukraine, where in 2022 they were rejected by the country’s international military due to their lack of combat experience.

The FBI is still investigating his ties to Ukraine and has sent multiple requests to companies for information about his phone and social media accounts.

His profile also contains pro-Palestine, pro-Taiwan and anti-China messages, including allegations of Chinese “biological warfare” and referring to the COVID-19 virus as an “attack.”

In a 2020 X post, Routh suggested he had voted for Trump in 2016 but became disillusioned, writing: “I’ll be happy when you [are] Went.”

Routh posted online urging President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris to meet with victims of the deadly attack on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.

Routh was registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina, according to state records, but appears to have voted in the recent Democratic primary in March.

In 2019 and 2020, he made several small donations totalling about $140 (£106) to the Democratic fund-raising organisation ActBlue, according to online federal election records.

A photo released by The Associated Press of a truck outside Routh’s Hawaii home had a Biden-Harris campaign sticker on the back.

In the past, Routh has also backed Democratic candidates such as Tulsi Gabbard, who has now left the party to join Trump, and has also declared his support for former Republican presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswami and Nikki Haley.

Rauth described himself as a “volunteer coordinator” and his ambition to join the war remained unfulfilled.

The International Legion told the BBC that Routh had “never been part of, affiliated with or associated with the Legion in any capacity”.

One army volunteer told the BBC that Routh was a chaotic individual who kept trying to “evade” officers and was “causing more harm than good.”

The volunteer said Rauth was in Ukraine in April 2022.

“He was not part of any unit and his activities were basically creating chaos,” the volunteer said.

“He was also trying to come across as some sort of authoritative entity to all the volunteers, which he wasn't,” she said.

Routh told The New York Times in 2023 that he wanted to recruit Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban.

A Facebook post in July this year read: “Soldiers, please do not call me. We are still trying to convince Ukraine to accept Afghan troops and hope to have some answers in the coming months… please be patient.”

In a self-published book in February 2023, Routh complained about how little he received for his efforts in Ukraine. “I have yet to see… even the slightest appreciation or respect,” he wrote.

In the book, Routh revealed he spent five months in Ukraine and worked on a number of projects, including a drone manufacturing program. He claims his efforts failed or were shut down by authorities.

There is also a passage in the book in which he encourages Iranian officials, saying that they are “free to kill Trump.”

Records show Routh's legal cases date back to the 1990s, involving a variety of felonies and misdemeanors, including multiple charges of receiving stolen goods.

He was charged and convicted of multiple felonies in Guilford County, North Carolina, between 2002 and 2010, according to online records.

In 2002 he was charged with possessing a fully automatic machine gun, which was referred to in court documents as a “weapon of mass destruction”.

a local newspaper report since that time He said he barricaded himself in a business and engaged in a three-hour standoff with police officers in downtown Greensboro before he was taken into custody.

In another incident, records show he was charged with offenses including a hit-and-run, resisting arrest and a concealed weapons violation.

His alleged offenses also include driving with a revoked license and possessing stolen property.

In 2019, the FBI also received a tip that Routh was a convicted felon in possession of a gun. The unverified tip was forwarded to local law enforcement in Honolulu.

Former neighbor Kim Mungo described Routh as “beloved” and said federal agents once raided Routh's property.

She alleged he kept “a lot of stolen property and items” at his home, and said she had seen Routh and his family carry guns around in the open.

Routh's eldest son, Oran, described his father as “a loving and caring father, and an honest hard-working man”.

He told CNN: “I don't know what happened in Florida, and I hope things have been blown out of proportion, because from what I've heard, it doesn't sound like the man I know would do anything crazy, let alone violent.”

The FBI is seeking friends and family members to interview in locations including North Carolina and Hawaii.

Routh appeared before a judge in Palm Beach County Court near Mar-a-Lago on Monday, charged with firearms offenses.

The charges against him did not include any reference to an attempt to assassinate Trump, though the FBI has said it is investigating Sunday’s incident as an assassination attempt.

After appearing in court, law enforcement said the suspect did not fire any weapons and was unable to see Trump.

Secret Service and Homeland Security agents have searched Routh's former home in Greensboro, North Carolina.

A hearing is scheduled for next Monday to determine whether he should be kept in custody. Prosecutors say he is a flight risk and a danger to the community.