Ryan Wesley Routh, who is implicated in former President Donald Trump's second assassination attempt, may have had "inside information," the UK Daily Mail reported. Routh was arrested after allegedly pointing a rifle through bushes outside the Trump International golf course in West Palm Beach near where the former president was playing.
There are many questions about how and why Routh showed up to the golf course where Trump would be playing a round. Authorities say he was there about 12 hours before he was apprehended.
It's unclear how Routh got so close to Trump without being discovered sooner, especially since there was already one attempt in July to take his life. Moreover, Trump does not make his daily schedule public, which begs the question of how Routh knew where Trump would be and when.
A former top FBI official said this could point to one of several possibilities, including that the gunman was tipped off in Trump's orbit. If that's the case, Trump could be in continued danger.
The former FBI official said there were one of three "possibilities" to explain this lapse in security. "One is this guy had inside information, and having enough time to get to that fifth hole—that location between the fifth and sixth hole—and get himself set up," the source told the Daily Mail.
When examining the timing, the likelihood that someone fed Routh this information becomes apparent. "So if somebody tipped them off, at the time Trump went off the first tee, it would have been about an hour and 15 hour and 20 minutes before he got to that that spot," the former FBI official said, noting it would give Routh "plenty of time" to set up.
'The other possibility is that he's been surveilling the former president, and either a watching Mar-a- Lago as to when when he leaves, or actually physically following him and his vehicle and determining exactly where he went," the source continued. This is questionable as the Secret Service around him would likely spot when they're being tailed.
The former FBI official had a third theory: Routh simply "got lucky" in guessing Trump would be at that club on that day. Trump often golfs, but the source thinks some happenstance is the least likely explanation.
"I don't think that's the case. I think it's one of the first two, and neither one of them has good implications," the former official concluded.
It appears the investigators have similar suspicions about Routh's ability to access the GOP presidential candidate. According to the New York Post, several club workers were asked whether they shared information with someone else.
One employee told the Post that the Secret Service and FBI "asked a couple questions about who I tell when President Trump is here," the staffer said Monday. "They asked everyone if we tell our friends when he comes and goes," the worker added.
Workers are strictly prohibited from sharing that Trump is at the club. "They’ve told us for a long time that we are putting him in danger if we text a friend to say that he’s here, even if the friends are fans of him. So I have never once done that, and I don’t think a lot of my coworkers have either," the staffer said.
They also denied seeing or even knowing Routh after authorities showed them photos. "Everyone was actually really nice to us; they said that we weren’t suspected of anything, and they made sure I wasn’t too shaken up when they started talking to me," the worker said.
It's reasonable to believe that there was some tip-off to Routh that Trump would be there that day. Only time will tell, but it's reasonable to explore several theories in the meantime, including that an insider betrayed him.
