Trump assassination plot suspect was not in BlackRock ad
After Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested in connection with a plot to assassinate Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, posts claimed the suspect had appeared in an ad for financial giant BlackRock. This is false; the footage comes from a video showing demonstrations in support of Ukraine following Russia's 2022 invasion.
"Ryan Wesley Routh was in a BlackRock commercial, just like Thomas Matthew Crooks. I'm sure it's just a coincidence," says a September 16, 2024 X post sharing the clip.
Similar posts spread elsewhere on X, Instagram and Facebook -- including in Chinese, German and Spanish. Some insinuate the plot against Trump was an "inside job," building on debunked conspiracy theories about the first assassination attempt on the former US president during a July campaign rally in the state of Pennsylvania.
Prosecutors charged Routh, 58, with federal gun crimes after he was arrested September 15 in connection with a scheme to shoot Trump at his West Palm Beach, Florida golf course.
US Secret Service agents reportedly spotted a man, later identified as Routh, pointing a rifle out of a tree line while securing the course ahead of Trump. The agents proceeded to open fire on Routh before he fled and was arrested by local police.
Routh, a self-employed builder based in the state of Hawaii, has an arrest record spanning decades. He regularly posted about politics on social media, although public records show he has shifting views.
BlackRock told AFP in a September 16 email that posts claiming Routh appeared in an ad for the world's largest asset manager are "completely false."
"Ryan Routh has never been an employee of BlackRock nor has he appeared in any BlackRock ads," a company spokesperson said.
Footage from Ukraine protests
A reverse image search found the X account SAVE AZOV posted what appears to be the earliest iteration of the clip on May 1, 2022 (archived here).
"This video is a message to the world from the Mariupol defenders," the caption says. "They are grateful for our support and ask us to keep on fighting."
The profile says it advocates for the Azov brigade, an all-volunteer ultranationalist battalion that became a part of Ukraine’s National Guard and helped defend the southern port city of Mariupol at the start of Russia's 2022 invasion. The siege lasted from February until May 2022 and ended in the surrender of more than 2,000 fighters.
Using geolocation techniques, AFP confirmed the video shared online was filmed in Independence Square in Kyiv (archived here).
After the footage resurfaced, Azov said in a statement on X that Routh "has no connection to Azov and has never had any connection to Azov. The peaceful demonstration he attended was open and anyone could join it" (archived here).
Another reverse image search uncovered similar footage that Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda published April 30, 2022 on YouTube (archived here). Routh appears in the background of some shots.
AFP also interviewed Routh during a demonstration in Kyiv on September 27, 2022. He had traveled to Ukraine claiming he wanted to volunteer and recruit foreign fighters to help repel Russia's invasion.
Thomas Matthew Crooks
In July, a gunman killed a bystander and critically injured two attendees at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania before he was killed by Secret Service snipers. The former president was hit in the ear.
Following the attempted assassination, some social media users questioned the fact that the shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, appeared in a 2022 BlackRock ad.
BlackRock acknowledged Crooks was in a video as a student but said he was not compensated for the appearance.
"In 2022, we ran an ad featuring a teacher from Bethel Park High School, in which several unpaid students briefly appeared in the background, including Thomas Matthew Crooks," the company previously told AFP.
"We will make all video footage available to the appropriate authorities, and we have removed the video from circulation out of respect for the victims."
AFP has previously fact-checked other claims about BlackRock here and here.
