No, this video does not show Ryan Wesley Routh in a BlackRock commercial

Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested as a suspect in an apparent Sept. 15 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. After his arrest, social media users shared a video of Routh that they say connects him to BlackRock Inc., a New York-based investment management company.

"The latest Trump would be assassin — Ryan Routh ALSO appeared in a Blackrock Commercial just like Thomas Crooks," a Sept.16 X post reads. The post is accompanied by a video clip of Routh in the crowd at a rally with an American flag tied around his neck.

Screenshot from X post

But the clip is not part of a BlackRock ad. It is a 2022 video from a pro-Ukrainian rally. A longer version of the video was posted May 1, 2022, on an X account titled "SAVE AZOV."

The Azov Brigade is a Ukrainian far-right militia, which became a part of Ukraine’s national guard and helped defend the Ukrainian city of Mariupol against Russian forces.

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stated on November 10, 2024 in a Threads post

“NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says that ‘if Trump surrenders Ukraine to Putin, he will personally expel the United States from the alliance.’”

"This video is a message to the world from the Mariupol defenders. They are grateful for our support and ask us to keep on fighting," the 2022 post says. It does not mention BlackRock.

After the video began recirculating online, Azov issued 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. He was caught on the video filmed by the protesters by accident."

A BlackRock spokesperson told PolitiFact in an email that Routh has neither been an employee of the company nor appeared in any BlackRock ads.

"The video circulating on social media has been manipulated to falsely link Routh to BlackRock," the spokesperson said.

In 2023, Routh told The New York Times that he had traveled to Ukraine to fight in the war against Russia and was recruiting Afghan soldiers to help.

The X post also mentions that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter in Trump’s first assassination attempt, was in a BlackRock ad. PolitiFact previously found that Crooks was in the ad but was not paid to do so.

We rate the claim that Ryan Routh appeared in a Blackrock commercial False.