Video does not show would-be Trump assassin in a Blackrock commercial

Context

In the wake of the second assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, a slew of misinformation has circulated on social media. 

One recent claim falsely links the two perpetrators of these attempts by stating that both assailants were featured in commercials for Blackrock, a financial planning and investment management firm. 

Blackrock has often been the subject of debunked conspiracy theories revolving around topics such as the global elite controlling elections, news conglomerates, COVID-19, and other major world events, along with antisemitic conspiracy theories. 

Posts purporting to link both would-be assassins to Blackrock proliferated rapidly on social media in the wake of the shooting. One X (formerly Twitter) post (archived here) had 8.8 million views by September 18, just three days after the attempt on the former president's life. 

In fact

The first Trump shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was featured in a Blackrock advertisement. Crooks appears for a little under two seconds in the video. After Crooks' July attempt on Trump's life, CBS reported on the commercial, where Blackrock confirmed that he appeared briefly in the background because it was filmed at his high school. 

The commercial concerned teacher retirement funds and the students in the background were not paid. Blackrock removed the commercial from the airwaves "out of respect to the victims" after the assassination attempt. 

However, claims that Ryan Wesley Routh — the suspect in the latest assassination attempt on Trump on September 15 — appeared in a Blackrock commercial are false. Using a reverse image search of the image of Routh purported to be from the commercial, along with studying Blackrock's commercials, we found none featuring Routh. 

Conversely, footage of Routh from 2022 matches the images of him circulating social media. This video of Routh was taken during a 2022 protest in Kyiv, where, according to the New York Times' The Daily, Routh had traveled as part of a self-proclaimed mission to aid with the resistance efforts. 

The Associated Press also took a picture of Routh there, confirming both his presence at this rally during this timeframe, and also the source of the video. 

Blackrock told Logically Facts that the claim was "completely false." It added, "Ryan Routh has never been an employee of BlackRock nor has he appeared in any BlackRock ads. The video circulating on social media has been manipulated to falsely link Routh to BlackRock."

The verdict

The claim is misleading. While Thomas Matthew Crooks appeared very briefly in the background of a Blackrock commercial because he was a student at the high school where it was filmed, Ryan Wesley Routh has never appeared in a Blackrock advert. The video purporting to show him in one was taken at a protest in Kyiv in 2022.