Did Ukrainian Intel Attempt Trump Assassination?

All my investigations are free to read, thanks to the generosity of my readers. Independent journalism nonetheless requires investment, so if you value this article or any others, please consider sharing, or even becoming a paid subscriber. Your support is always gratefully received, and will never be forgotten. To buy me a coffee or two, please click this link.

For weeks, the mainstream media has been gripped by mania over Nikita Casap, a teenage resident of rural Wisconsin accused of murdering his mother and stepfather, in order to finance an elaborate scheme to assassinate US President Donald Trump and instigate a nationwide race war. News outlets have given the case blanket coverage. This has included extensive investigative timelines, psychological profiles speculating on the 17-year-old’s motives and mental state, and even cautions that federal funding cuts could prevent similar plots being foiled in future.

Eerily absent from this inexorable flurry of coverage, however, has been much if any reference to how Casap was no lone wolf, but a component of a wider conspiracy coordinated with and directed by as yet unidentified actors in Ukraine. Even more damningly, there has been zero consideration of whether the intended assassination of Trump was one way or another orchestrated by Kiev’s security and intelligence services, in order to sabotage ongoing peace negotiations between Moscow and Washington.

Nikita Casap in court

This glaring oversight is all the more inexcusable given the contents of a publicly-accessible FBI affidavit. It contains numerous excerpts of private conversations conducted over prior months via Telegram between Casap and pseudonymous individuals with Ukrainian telephone numbers in Cyrillic, discussing the killing of Trump in some detail. In one such chat, Casap posed a variety of questions to an anonymous Ukrainian user, amply indicating he expected to be extracted to Kiev once he took Trump out.

“How long will I need to hide before I will be moved to Ukraine?” he enquired, adding, “I probably should brush up on my Russian.” He further asked, “So while in Ukraine, I’ll be able to get a normal job and have a normal life? Even if when [sic] it’s found out I did it?” In an even more revealing exchange in January, Casap asked an “unknown” confederate “what country do you think will get the blame for this?” They stated plainly:

“Russia will be blamed for it, this is the goal.”

In this context, one passage of the affidavit takes on a particularly sinister character. On March 10th, a classmate of Casap informed law enforcement Casap regularly circulated “gore edit” videos, which “included flashing gory and war images put to Russian music” via Snapchat. Casap also openly informed his classmate he intended to kill his parents, and “was in contact with a male in Russia via Telegram,” with whom he was “planning to overthrow the government” by assassinating Trump. Casap reportedly boasted:

“When they saw 10 consecutive attacks in the news, it would have been him.” 

There are ominous reverberations in Casap’s overt advertisement of his murderous intent and purported Russian connections of the extensive ‘legend building’ of Lee Harvey Oswald, in advance of John F. Kennedy’s November 1963 assassination. Numerous low- and high-profile incidents involving Oswald - or impersonators - prior to that fateful day appeared custom-built to frame him as an unhinged Communist and crack marksman, with a homicidal axe to grind against the President. Even federal investigators privately lamented “the facts on Oswald seem…too obvious” in the aftermath.

‘Attack Drone’

It is evident from the affidavit that Casap firmly believed wiping out Trump would be part of a wider wave of terror strikes in the US. On top of the teenager’s references to “10 consecutive attacks” in discussions with his classmate, in one Telegram chat with a co-conspirator using a Ukrainian phone number, he asked “do the other 10 people also have similar beliefs to I? Or are they different?” In a three-page “manifesto” titled “accelerate the collapse”, provided to his Ukrainian contacts, he wrote:

“The other attacks that may occur, I have no idea what they are/who they target. I have no idea even if they are same ideology [sic] as I. Point being, this manifesto is specifically for the attack that targets Trump.”

It is uncertain whether any other mayhem was indeed planned, or Casap was manipulated by his Ukrainian contacts, as a means of motivating him to action. He was evidently taking detailed orders from his foreign associates, to the extent one might call them “handlers”. For example, a Telegram user named “forest” with whom Casap communicated in Cyrillic provided instructions on how to obtain a fake license plate for his parents’ stolen car, along with coordinates and driving directions from his home to Eureka, California.

Casap received explicit orders related to the murder of his parents in addition. At the direction of a Russian-speaking Telegram user, he responded to texts from his stepfather’s employer, enquiring about his welfare as he failed to show up to work for two weeks, saying he “got sick”. Casap was also told to “take [drag]” his parents’ bodies to the basement, although failed to do so, leaving their corpses where he killed them in their home, covered with blankets.

Markedly, the FBI identified extensive information on Casap’s phone on “how to utilize a drone as an attack drone,” including “directions on how to extend the range of an attack drone by using repeater drones and ways to avoid detection, such as making a drone from a kit rather than a commercial off-the-shelf brand.” Moreover, methods to affix “a small dropper” to the drone “to drop an explosive, Molotov cocktail, or very strong topical poison,” and avoid detection by law enforcement were outlined.

Coincidentally, drones bearing explosives or poison are Ukraine’s “weapon of choice” against Russia. Kiev, and in turn Moscow, have innovated in the field to such an extent that modern warfare has been permanently transformed. Casap had arranged via Telegram to purchase a drone that would drop a bomb “with nuts, bolts, needles”, and “headphones” to protect his hearing from gunshots produced by “a .357 magnum”, using bitcoin. Trump was to be assassinated using the drone.

It may also be relevant to consider that in recent years, Ukraine’s SBU has perfected the dark art of recruiting individuals in Russia to commit crimes, via messaging apps such as Telegram. This often takes the form of attacking government buildings, in return for small sums of money. During the March 2024 Presidential election, several people who vandalised ballot boxes - which generated significant media attention - were confirmed to have been blackmailed by Ukrainian scammers into perpetrating the acts. 

‘Ethnically Motivated’

Another striking linkage between the Trump assassination plot and Ukraine is Casap avowedly following the “teachings” of the Order of Nine Angles. A Satanic Neo-Nazi fraternity, it advocates extremist violence to destroy modern civilisation, on the grounds the Western world has become infected and corrupted by “Judeo-Christian” influence. Casap specifically sought to connect with fellow adherents via Telegram and TikTok. His manifesto strongly echoes the group’s messaging and ideology, declaring “it is clear Jews control all White countries” and “promote White genocide and degeneracy”:

“For the White race to survive, it is necessary to accelerate the collapse of the countries [sic]. Jewish occupied governments must fall. The White race cannot survive unless America collapses…As to why, specifically Trump, I think it’s obvious. By getting rid of the president and perhaps the vice president, that is guaranteed to bring in some chaos…[and] bring into the public the idea that assassinations and accelerating the collapse are possible things to do.”

Nikita Casap, using pseudonym ‘Awoken’, seeks Order of Nine Angles Telegram groups

Elsewhere, in providing guidance on how others could assist his “White revolution” globally, Casap directed manifesto readers to The American Futurist, an online platform that publishes guides to carrying out violent acts. Casap said the resource had “a lot of really good articles”, noting it was founded by members of now-defunct Neo-Nazi terror group Atomwaffen. “There is sure much to learn from the success and mistakes of Atomwaffen,” he stated.

One “mistake” made by Atomwaffen was to closely align with the Order of Nine Angles, causing many White supremacists to disavow the group, due to the latter’s perverse advocacy of sexual violence and paedophilia. Atomwaffen activist John Cameron Denton is alleged by federal prosecutors to be personally involved in the distribution of child pornography. Many Atomwaffen members have spent their lives in and out of prison. It's founder Brandon Clint Russell was last indicted in February 2023.

He had planned to destroy electrical substations serving the majority Black city of Baltimore, Maryland, in a bid to deprive residents of heat and light during Winter. Oddly, despite the Biden administration at that time routinely warning of the grave threat of “racially or ethnically motivated” domestic terrorist attacks by US citizens, and publishing a dedicated national security strategy to address the “challenge”, their indictment went largely unremarked upon by US officials or the mainstream media.

This omertà may be attributable to Atomwaffen’s intimate relationship with Ukraine’s openly Neo-Nazi, US-funded and armed Azov Regiment, which routinely hosted members of Atomwaffen in Kiev. One Atomwaffen figure, Caleb Kole, was sentenced in January 2022 for plotting with accomplices to intimidate Jews and journalists. He had previously visited Ukraine to attend the country’s annual Neo-Nazi black metal festival Asgardsrei, which is held in a state-owned venue and features influential Azov activists on-stage.

By contrast, the media did take some interest in would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh’s Ukrainian ties, after his arrest in September 2024. He reportedly sought to join the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and recruit foreign fighters. News outlets nonetheless keenly downplayed these links, framing Routh as a mere “delusional” wannabe. This time round though, intimate connections between yet another aspiring Trump assassin and Ukraine are writ so large, the mildest scrutiny raises deeply uncomfortable questions mainstream ‘journalists’ are evidently prohibited from asking.