The New Year's Day attack in New Orleans that killed at least 15 people and the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas have led to questions over whether the two incidents were connected.
It was revealed that the suspects in both incidents were U.S. Army veterans and served at the same base in North Carolina. However, authorities said on Thursday that they saw no connection between the two events.
With questions still being answered, many theories spread online, one of which alleged that Ryan Routh, indicted in the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump in 2024, visited the same base more than 100 times before his arrest in September.
The Claim
A post on X, formerly Twitter, by Elon Musk, posted on January 2, 2025, viewed 44.3 million times, included a screengrab of another post on X by "Right Angle News Network" that said "BREAKING - The suspects in yesterday's attacks on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and Trump Tower in Las Vegas both served at Fort Bragg, the same military base Ryan Routh visited over 100 times before attempting to take Donald Trump's life."
Musk responded to the post: "Good question."
The Facts
The claim that Routh visited Fort Liberty, formerly Fort Bragg, more than 100 times has been circulating since his arrest on September 15.
On September 16, Tony Seruga, a self-proclaimed "philanthropist" who claims to "own the digital ID of every mobile device/computer in the U.S. and have indexed and archived every IP address in the world" said "Ryan Wesley Routh visited Fort Bragg dozens of times in the past few years. Isn't the US Army's psychological operations unit out of Fort Bragg?"
The claim, which was presented without evidence, was used in an empty attempt to connect him to the Psychological Operations (PSYOP) forces based at Fort Liberty. As stated by the U.S. Army, PSYOP soldiers "use expert communication skills and unconventional tactics to support U.S. Army objectives."
As written by the Associated Press, which reported on a 2024 recruiting effort for the PSYOPs, they are involved in a variety of missions, from simple propaganda efforts such as leaflet drops to sophisticated messaging aimed at deceiving enemies.
Seruga then wrote in December: "After extensive cell phone, laptop, and vehicle GPS data analysis, going back 4 years, Ryan Wesley Routh visited Fort Bragg 147 times, staying overnight on 29 occasions."
That post, published on X, was viewed more than 4.7 million times and repeated by other social media accounts known to have spread other false and misleading information.
This week, as news spread that the suspects in the New Orleans New Year's Day attack and the explosion at Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas both served at Fort Liberty, the claim came up again.
However, as was the case before, any evidence that Routh had visited the base more than 100 times was not presented. The claim has not been supported by official or credible media sources.
Seruga has been linked to other baseless claims in the past. As reported by HuffPost, he falsely claimed in 2024 that Michael Avenatti, former attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels, told him that she and former Trump attorney Michael Cohen had a romantic relationship, adding that "whole hush money scheme" was "cooked up" to "extort" The Trump Organization.
His comments were embedded in an article by One America News (OAN), which in a later retraction called the statements "false." Avenatti, Cohen and Daniels denied the allegations, and Cohen said he was "pleased" that OAN retracted the story.
Newsweek has contacted Seruga via X for comment.
While Routh was based in the same state as Fort Liberty, there is no public record that he visited the military base or had any other connection with the suspects from the New Year's Day incidents.
There appears to be no reason to believe that Seruga's claim is based on any reliable information or data.
Newsweek has contacted a Department of Defense press representative via email for comment.
Fort Liberty is not only the largest military base in the country, it's possibly the largest military base in the world by population as it employs over 52,000 military personnel, while also housing their families and a number of civilian employees.
At a press conference on Thursday, President Joe Biden said that there was "nothing to report" on a connection between the incidents in New Orleans and Las Vegas.
The Ruling
False.
There is no evidence to support this claim. It began to appear online in September 2024, with no evidence, shortly after Ryan Routh's arrest. It has been repeated on multiple occasions since but with no supporting sources or information. It has been repeated in light of the New Year's Day attack in New Orleans and the explosion outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, again, with no evidence.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
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