All posts tagged "Thomas Crooks"

Thomas Crooks was spotted ripping anti-Donald Trump signs from cars at a political event three days before attempting to assassinate the presidential candidate in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, the father of a former classmate told the FBI.

Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper after the 20-year-old fired eight shots at the former and future president from a nearby rooftop at a campaign rally, elevating Trump to a near mythic status days before he accepted the Republican Party nomination for president. Corey Comperatore, a rally attendee, was killed in the shooting, and two others were seriously injured.

Three days before the Butler rally, one of Crooks’ former high school classmates and his father encountered Crooks near an event center. After dropping his son off for work at the venue, the father told FBI task force officers he saw a young man “who he was 99% sure to be Thomas Crooks” in a parking lot removing “signs” from cars. ...

FBI records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit reveal that a Butler County Sheriff's deputy exchanged two emails with Thomas Matthew Crooks — the gunman who shot and wounded President Donald Trump at his Butler, Pennsylvania rally on July 13, 2024 — prior to the attack. The content of those emails remains unknown. The records are heavily redacted.

Judicial Watch announced it had forced the release of 48 pages of FBI records through a federal lawsuit. An FBI interview summary from July 17, 2024 shows a deputy telling investigators she had checked her records and found two email communications from Crooks — both "in regard to [redacted]." She told investigators she did not personally interact with Crooks and did not recognize him when news of the shooting broke, only learning of the connection when a New York Times reporter emailed her Sunday night asking questions.

The records also reveal that a Beaver County Emergency Services Unit medic who responded to the AGR building roof — where Crooks had positioned himself — told the FBI she observed a Washington County SWAT officer remove "a gray remote device with numerical push buttons and an antenna and a cell phone" from Crooks' right pocket after he was killed. Explosive ordnance disposal personnel subsequently arrived on the roof to examine the device. A police canine also "hit" on the building beneath the roof while the medic was present, prompting an evacuation — though Crooks' body remained on the roof....

Right-wing commentators Benny Johnson and Mike Cernovich blamed "The Deep State and Ukraine" for perpetuating two assassination attempts on Donald Trump as he campaigned in Butler County, PA, last July; and Palm Beach County, FL, in September.

Johnson hosted Cernovich on his podcast and posted to X Friday, "Unravel the assassination plot against Trump, it's going to implicate many Senators and members of Congress. The Deep State and Ukraine tried to take out our President."

On the podcast, Johnson asked, "What should happen if Ukraine is found to have been assisting in the assassination of Donald Trump? Even if this is a low-level military guy — and the 17-year-old that was nabbed, all we know according to the FBI is that he was communicating with a Ukrainian number, that he thought was Ukraine. We said on the show it might have been an undercover agent. Who knows?" ...

The rifle-wielding gunman who took aim at former President Donald Trump reportedly called out of work Saturday — the day of the assassination attempt — and told colleagues he'd be back on the job Sunday.

Thomas Crooks, the Pennsylvania man identified by authorities as the shooter who fired an AR-15 at Trump's rally in Butler, grazing the former president's ear and killing another man, told his boss he had “something to do” and requested off on Saturday, CNN reported, citing law enforcement officials.

Crooks reportedly told coworkers he'd be back to work the following day....