Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect who was arrested after attempting to shoot former President Donald Trump in Florida, was reportedly arrested in 2002 in North Carolina for having a bomb.

In fact, in the aftermath of Routh's arrest, it was discovered that he had 100 criminal counts in North Carolina alone. The news of his arrest shocked Greensboro law enforcement officers who had arrested him dozens of times and were very aware of him.

Retired officer Tracy Fulk told The Daily Mail that when her friend told her the assassin's name she responded saying, "I said, you have got to be kidding, I remembered the guy... Everybody remembers him from back in the day … everybody’s like, 'I remember him, I arrested him.'"

All of this information coming out of North Carolina makes it clear that Routh has been a known crackpot for years.

The FBI was reportedly aware of Routh's extremism but there was seemingly no effort to keep tabs on him. The FBI was likely too busy investigating pro-life protestors to go after nutjobs who encouraged Iran to assassinate a former president.

Routh On The Radar

Greensboro police were familiar with Routh because of his repeated criminal actions which ranged from petty crimes to dangerous offenses.

Officer Fulk explained, "We had gotten several barometer reports, or dangerous person notifications just because our bomb team had dealt with him, evidently at some point he had some explosive devices, so we were made aware of him just for safety reasons."

When Fulk pulled Routh over in 2002 he showed a gun and refused to exit his vehicle.

He ended up running from the police and barricading himself inside his roofing business where he had a tense standoff with police. He would eventually surrender but Officer Fulk would never forget him.

Routh's plot to shoot Donald Trump was thwarted when a Secret Service agent spotted him where he was set up with an AK-47 overlooking Trump's Mar-a-Lago golf course.

Routh ended up fleeing after being shot at and made it nearly 50 miles before police got him. He was then charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and having a firearm with an obliterated serial number with more charges likely on the way.

Routh's Strange Connections

Routh had a long criminal history in the United States but the story gets weirder as it turns out he was heavily involved in recruiting fighters and mercenaries for the war in Ukraine.

Routh was actually in Ukraine and wanted to get foreign fighters from the Middle East into Ukraine and he even ended up doing an interview with a reporter for The New York Times.

Routh is on record saying he "hates Trump" and wanted Iran to assassinate him while echoing the Democrat talking point that Trump is a "threat to democracy."

Both Florida Republicans and Republican organizations have confirmed that they will be spearheading an extensive investigation into Routh and his ties with the U.S. government. Considering this is the 2nd time someone has tried to kill Trump, the American people deserve answers.