Man arrested in Trump assassination attempt not in BlackRock ad | Fact check

Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY
Updated

The claim: Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Wesley Routh appeared in BlackRock ad

A Sept. 16 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) includes footage from a pro-Ukrainian rally that shows the man charged in a suspected assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

"Ryan Wesley Routh was in a BlackRock commercial, just like Thomas Matthew Crooks," reads the post's caption, referring to the gunman who opened fire at Trump's July rally in Pennsylvania. "I’m sure it’s just a coincidence."

The post received more than 700 likes in a day. Versions of the claim also spread widely on Facebook and on X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: False

A BlackRock spokesperson called the claim “completely false” and said Routh has never appeared in any advertisements for the firm. The clip originated from a video shared by a pro-Ukraine group, not a BlackRock ad.

Claim of gunman in BlackRock ad ‘completely false’

The FBI is investigating what it called a botched assassination attempt on Trump Sept. 15 at his Florida golf club. U.S. Secret Service agents walking the course ahead of the former president spotted a gunman hiding in the bushes of his golf course and fired their weapons, authorities said. The suspect, later identified as Routh, fled the scene, was arrested in a black SUV and was held on two firearms charges, according to authorities.

But Routh has never appeared in any advertisements for the investment company BlackRock, a company spokesperson said. The Instagram post misrepresents the video in the post.

Fact check: Post wrongly claims nothing hit in Trump rally shooting

The claim is “completely false,” company spokesperson Christopher Berger told USA TODAY in an email. Routh has not appeared in any ads for BlackRock, and the massive investment firm has no connection to the video in the post, Berger added.

The eight-second clip in the Instagram post originated from a longer video of a rally in Ukraine shared on X in May 2022 by a group that advocates for the Azov Brigade, a unit of the Ukrainian National Guard. Routh is not identified by name in that video, but he is named in the caption of an Associated Press photo from that time that shows him with an identical hairstyle and clothing with an American flag tied around his neck.

While a former Ukrainian military recruiter said Routh attempted to assemble an army of foreign fighters to help the country in its long-running war with Russia, the group that shared the rally video said in a Sept. 16 X post that it also has no connection to Routh. The group added that the rally shown was open to the public and the attendees who filmed it recorded Routh by accident.

The post correctly notes that Thomas Matthew Crooks appeared in a BlackRock commercial years before the July 2024 Trump rally in Pennsylvania, where authorities say he opened fire, killing one person, critically injuring two others and wounding Trump's right ear. CBS News reported that Crooks appeared in the background of a 2022 ad that features his teacher and was recorded at his Pennsylvania high school. The company told the network the video was removed from circulation.

BlackRock manages $10 trillion of assets, making it both the world’s largest investment manager and the subject of baseless conspiracy theories – including one debunked by USA TODAY that it owns shares of Dominion Voting Systems, the company that brought a defamation lawsuit against Fox Corp.

USA TODAY also debunked a false claim that Trump responded to the suspected assassination attempt by posting to Truth Social that his would-be assassins are “0-2" and a claim that Routh is a Republican.

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post but did not immediately receive a response. The Instagram user who shared the claim could not be reached.

PolitiFact also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, Ryan Routh wasn't in BlackRock ad | Fact check

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