How Could Multiple People Not Be Involved In The "Golf Course Episode", And How Could The Organs Of State Security Not Already Have Known About Ryan Routh?

Throughout yesterday, experienced law enforcement and intelligence observers raised perfectly reasonable questions about Ryan Routh, the people he must have worked with, and the extensive knowledge the organs of state security must already have had of him, his contacts, and his activities.

For starters:

A veteran FBI agent said Monday that he would be “shocked” if intelligence agencies did not already have would-be Trump assassin Ryan Wesley Routh on their radar for his travel and apparent efforts to recruit foreign fighters for Ukraine.

“I asked about it in almost every case I had, especially in counterterrorism Division at the FBI when I was there, what did the other intelligence agencies know about this American citizen out on the battlefield and who was recruiting in Afghanistan?” Jeff Danik told the John Solomon Reports podcast Monday.

"These are target countries, high criteria intelligence collection points for—are legitimate collection points—for our CIA, our NSA and our five eyes partners,” he said.

. . , “So an American traipsing around in that battleground is going to perceive focus, I would be shocked if one of the intelligence agencies didn't have his devices compromised,” he said. “All that data and collection is going to be classified, of course, but my question is, does it even exist? Do we know who he was contacting, who is contacted with it?”

In fact, several stories have emerged that indicate Routh was in fact on various agencies' radar. First,

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Routh alarmed people after he traveled to Ukraine hoping to join the fight against Russia shortly after President Vladimir Putin's forces invaded in 2022.

One nurse, worried about Routh's threats of violence after she encountered him in Kyiv, said she reported the man to a Customs and Border Protection officer at Washington's Dulles airport in June 2022.

Chelsea Walsh told the officer that Routh was among the most dangerous Americans she met during her six-week visit to Ukraine, WSJ reported.

Sarah Adams, a former CIA officer who helped run a network that linked 50 aid groups to share information and coordinate humanitarian and volunteer efforts, said Routh was known as a "fraudster" and "kind of a whack job," the outlet said.

In early June, aid groups banned Routh from their Signal Messenger groups, and reported his activities to the State Department. Adams said the groups were concerned Routh might be engaging in human trafficking or immigration fraud.

But the FBI knew of Routh even before 2022:

In a press conference, Jeffrey Veltri, the FBI Special Agent in charge of the Miami field office that is investigating the attempted assassination against Trump, admitted the FBI received a “tip” on Routh in 2019.

Veltri stated, “I can also share with you that Routh was a subject of a previous closed 2019 tip to the FBI where it was alleged he was a felon in possession of a firearm.”

“The alleged complainant was interviewed and did not verify providing the initial information. The FBI passed that information on to local law enforcement in Honolulu,” added Veltri.

Next, Martin County Sheriff Will Snyder, whose deputies arrested Routh as he tried to escape up the I-95, raised other questions at a press conference:

Reporter: Does Ryan Routh have any ties to Martin County?

Snyder: “The answer to my knowledge, the answer is no. I think what we’re finding out is he’s not from this area…”

“Which, of course, raises the bigger question, how does a guy from not here get all the way to Trump International, realize that the president, former president of the United States, is golfing and is able to get a rifle in that vicinity?”

“I think that’s the question the FBI and the Secret Service are laser-focused on today… is this guy part of a conspiracy?”

“Is he a lone gunman?” Sheriff Snyder asked. He continued, “If he’s a lone gunman—–President Trump is that much safer because we have him. But if he’s part of a conspiracy, then this whole thing really takes on an ominous tone.”

Now we come to the questions Sheriff Snyder raised. For instance, Routh's behavior wasn't random or disorganized; it showed clear planning and purpose based on information that wasn't public:

Ryan Wesley Routh, the alleged would-be Trump assassin, set up a sniper’s nest near the former president’s golf course and hid there for nearly 12 hours before the apparent ambush attempt, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Routh’s cellphone pinged to the spot on the edge of Trump International West Palm Beach starting from 1:59 a.m. Sunday, the federal criminal complaint said.

. . . SKS-style rifles are not manufactured in Florida and the weapon was either brought in from another state or country, the complaint reads.

In addition, although Routh was from Hawaii and, as the sheriff noted, isn't local to West Palm Beach or Florida, he knew about a specific spot on the golf course perimeter where Trump could be surreptitiously observed:

The gunman who allegedly staked out former President Donald Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course with an SKS rifle was able to exploit a security hole that the Secret Service has known about for years.

News photographers — including those hired by The Post — have had no problem repeatedly securing spots around the perimeter of the course to snap pictures of Trump playing golf or driving around in a golf cart.

They have even taken images — which require a clear line of sight to the 45th president — unnoticed through the bushes with telephoto lenses. Some have gotten as close as 75 yards — without so much as a sideways glance from the Secret Service.

. . . However, the location Routh chose to lie in wait in West Palm Beach wasn’t particularly favorable for photographers, owing to tricky angles and long distances.

“Routh could easily have picked a better spot, but maybe he was worried about being seen by a photographer,” the source added.

So Routh traveled from Hawaii to West Palm Beach and had with him a weapon from somewhere other than Florida, with the specific intent of assassinating Trump. Somehow he knew of a specific spot where this could be done, although he wasn't aware from any public source of when Trump might appear on the golf course. Nevertheless, he arrived at the spot in the very early morning fully 12 hours before Trump arrived at the fifth hole. This brings us to another big question:

Monday on Fox News’ “Mornings with Maria,” former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told host Maria Bartiromo that 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, who allegedly tried to assassinate the former president at Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, might have used “inside information” from a “3rd party” to determine Trump’s whereabouts.

“I want to know how that person knew to be there, at that golf hole, at that time, that day,” Swecker said in a clip posted to the social media platform X.

. . . Whereas the Butler rally was a public event, announced in advance, Trump’s golf round on Sunday was not.

“He’s either surveilling Donald Trump or he received some inside information,” Swecker said of the alleged would-be assassin Routh. “That’s pretty sinister if that’s the case because that implicates a 3rd party either wittingly or unwittingly.”

A press conference yesterday featuring local and federal law enforcement, if anything, confused the situation. On one hand,

Analysis of Routh's cellphone location data "corroborates witness testimony of Routh's presence at the scene on Sunday," and [Miami FBI chief Jeffrey] Veltri said further analysis "will compile his movements in the days and months leading up to the 15th." He confirmed that Routh was in the vicinity of the golf course for 12 hours before the incident.

On the other hand,

Taking questions from the press, Veltri said that they are still investigating Routh's exact travel route to Florida from Hawaii and how he obtained the rifle. Veltri and Rowe said there is no information at this time indicating that Routh knew for sure that Trump would be at the golf course that day.

But it was also revealed at the press conference that Routh's backpack contained "a black plastic bag containing food". Short of somehow directly reading Routh's mind, wouldn't his presence at the golf course perimeter, armed, and with a black plastic bag containing food, be sufficient for a reasonable person (such as a juror) to infer that Routh knew Trump would be coming to the fifth and sixth holes of the golf course within about 12 hours?

In fact, another perfectly reasonable surmise from the circumstances we've been told is that Routh was able to get inside information on Trump's movements for September 15. Remember the story from November 2016, when National Security Agency chief Mike Rogers told Trump his transition headquarters in Trump Tower was bugged, and as a result, Trump moved the transition to his Bedminster golf club? Do you suppose the organs of state security might possibly be doing something similar now? For instance, when the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago in August 2022, might they have planted bugs as well as rifling through Melania's dresser drawers?

But of course, if the organs of state security had access to Trump's non-public schedule, someone within the organs would have had to pass this information on to Routh. Does anyone else feel uncomfortable about the FBI conducting the investigation here?