The State Department was hit with a lawsuit on Monday to turn over any records related to communications with Ryan Routh, who is currently on trial for allegedly attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump.
Routh traveled to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in 2022 and led the “International Volunteer Center,” an effort to recruit foreign soldiers for the war effort. The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) sued to obtain potential communications between Routh and department officials from Jan. 1, 2023 and Sept. 14, 2024.
“Given Mr. Routh’s creation of an organization in Ukraine aimed at helping foreigners connect with military units, the American public deserves to know the content of any communications between Routh and Biden State Department officials,” said CASA Director James Fitzpatrick.
More than 355 days have passed since CASA filed its initial records requests, but no determination has been made, according to the lawsuit.
Though the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) monitored some Americans who traveled to Ukraine to fight in the war, Routh apparently was not investigated, Politico reported in September 2024.
“As a general matter, we do not comment on pending litigation,” a State Department spokesperson told the DCNF.
One nurse who encountered Routh in Ukraine flagged him to U.S. officials, expressing concerns about him during an hour-long interview with a Customs and Border Protection officer in 2022, according to the Wall Street Journal. Former CIA officer Sarah Adams told the WSJ that Routh was known as a “fraudster” and “kind of a whack job” among Ukraine volunteer aid groups.
Routh faces five charges for allegedly attempting to kill Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15, 2024, just months after a gunman’s bullet grazed Trump’s ear during the first assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He is representing himself at his trial, which began last week in Florida.
Judge Aileen Cannon cut Routh off minutes into his opening statement — which mentioned Vladimir Putin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the history of humanity — after warning him against making a “mockery” of the courtroom.
His cross-examinations of witnesses have been shorter than anticipated, putting the trial ahead of schedule. When cross-examining the prosecution’s first witness, the Secret Service agent who discovered Routh hiding in the bushes with a firearm, Routh asked if it was good to “be alive.”
“The Biden State Department was heavily involved in monitoring Americans who went to Ukraine to aid the war effort,” Fitzpatrick said. “This should have included Routh, and our lawsuit will force those records to be shared with the American public.”
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