Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City defense analyst and documentary filmmaker is describing how he's no stranger to Ryan Routh, the man now accused of an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Dodge Billingsley is sharing how he corresponded with Routh over the course of several months in 2023, with messages spanning into early 2024 — and explaining why he ultimately cut off contact.
In his Salt Lake City office Monday afternoon, Billingsley said he immediately recognized the name and photo plastered all over the internet.
"I'm like, 'Oh gosh, I know this guy,'" Billingsley said, looking at body camera footage of Routh's arrest on his computer screen.
Billingsley helps rescue soldiers and their families from Afghanistan through his nonprofit, Global QRF. He said early last year, Afghan soldiers told him they were receiving contract offers from a man living in Ukraine.
"Ryan Routh was one of these guys just sort of somehow connected with these Afghans and said, 'I'm going to bring you over to Ukraine to fight as a unit for the Ukrainian Army against Russia,'" Billingsley said.
He said the soldiers weren't sure what to think of the contracts but that Routh's message offered "a sliver of hope" because the soldiers were "desperate for anything, any way out, any way to save their families."
Billingsley explained how a plan like that isn't uncommon to hear about, and that he knew of former U.S. service members running similar schemes.
Hearing that there were different kinds of freelancer-type people in Ukraine helping the war effort, Billingsley wanted to see if the offer was real.
He pulled up emails on his computer that he had exchanged with Routh at the time. He also opened text messages on two different messaging apps from a contact labeled 'Ryan Routh,' with Routh's photo attached.
"He just was like, 'I have this plan. Let's get these Afghans. They're going to come here and fight,'" Billingsley said.
Routh sent over documents, he indicated, supporting this supposed operation and talked of being backed by the Ukrainian government.
"He'd send messages like, you know, 'Me and Danilov,' who was the head of intelligence for Ukraine, or, 'Me and the defense minister,' you know, 'We've all worked this out, we're in agreement,'" Billingsley recounted.
In late May of 2023, Billingsley said he was traveling to Ukraine, where Routh was living, so he scheduled a meeting in Kyiv.
He described how things just didn't add up the more they talked.
"He told me his plan, but I was struck by the fact that he didn't seem attached to any entity. He had no money," Billingsley remembered. "He lived in a hostel in a room with 20 other people, he said, for like three bucks a night. ... He didn't seem to have any back support."
Billingsley noted that Routh didn't seem to be political and that he had never heard Routh say anything about political leaders.
After the May meeting, Billingsley said Routh continued sending messages. At one point, he explained that Routh asked for supplies like boots and helmets.
Billingsley ultimately felt Routh's plan was "a waste of time" and "just felt like a lot of nonsense," so he said he stopped responding to the texts in September.
"I told the Afghans, 'I would not get my hopes up. I don't think anything Ryan is saying is real,'" Billingsley said.
The last text he said he received from Routh came in February of this year, which Billingsley didn't think was legitimate and didn't reply to.
"My partners in Ukraine with (wish) to push forwards a plan to attack Putin directly, but we need U.S. support," the message reads. "If you have contacts that can help us with a special operation."
Billingsley has no idea what would have precipitated the alleged actions against Trump.
But Billingsley said he has now reported the final text he received to the FBI and expressed feeling reassured and glad he chose not to pursue things with Routh any further.
"He seemed off," Billingsley said of Routh. "And, yeah, yesterday's news confirmed it."
