Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, the alleged would-be assassin arrested for targeting former President Donald Trump at his Florida golf club, may have had access to inside information about Trump’s whereabouts, a former FBI official has warned.
The Gateway Pundit reported earlier that former President Donald Trump’s Sunday golf outing at his Trump International Golf Club was a last-minute decision.
Chris Swecker, a retired FBI assistant director, told Newsweek that the law enforcement community is now focused on determining how Routh appeared to know Trump would be at the West Palm Beach golf course on Sunday.
“The biggest question to answer is: ‘How did the would-be assassin know to be at that location at that time?’” Swecker said.
He added that the possibility of inside knowledge is “a scary” and dangerous reality that cannot be ignored.
Swecker, who previously oversaw all FBI criminal investigations, outlined three possible explanations: Routh either got incredibly lucky with a guess, conducted surveillance on Trump, or was privy to inside information.
“The last answer is scary and has implications that another person was involved,” he said ominously.
More from Newsweek:
Swecker, who retired from the FBI in 2006 and is now an attorney based in Charlotte, North Carolina, said that it may be time to tone down some of the rhetoric on the former president.
“There is little doubt that the demonization of Trump is resonating with the fringe elements who are mentally unstable and highly impressionable, so it may be time to tone it down a bit,” he said.
He said Routh had been involved in some “strange quests,” including trying to get Afghan fighters into Ukraine to fight the Russians.
“We know this suspect has posted about Trump being a danger to democracy and he has been active on some strange quests: visiting Ukraine to round up Afghan fighters so motive is coming into focus—he is a wing nut who dislikes authority, based on his arrest record for resisting arrest in a two-hour standoff,” Swecker said.
[…]
Swecker said Routh believed those saying that Trump is an existential threat to democracy and allegedly decided to take matters into his own hands.