The man who attempted to assassinate Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appears to have posted violent antisemitic and anti-immigration content online as a teenager, according to a senior FBI official. During a US Senate hearing on Tuesday, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate revealed the existence of a social media account associated with Thomas Crooks, the identified shooter, dating back to 2019-2020, when he would have been 15 or 16 years old. This revelation provides some of the first publicly available evidence regarding a possible motive for the July 13 attack at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania.
Abbate informed lawmakers that the account contained over 700 comments. “Some of these comments, if ultimately attributable to the shooter, appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes to espouse political violence and are described as extreme in nature,” Abbate stated.
Crooks, aged 20, fired at Trump with an AR-15-style rifle during the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, injuring the former president’s ear, killing one attendee, and wounding two others. Secret Service snipers fatally shot Crooks after he opened fire. Investigators have described Crooks as a solitary individual with limited social connections beyond immediate family members.
The first shooting incident involving a U.S. president or major party candidate in over four decades highlighted a significant security lapse, leading to the resignation of former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle under bipartisan congressional pressure. Ronald Rowe, the acting director, informed lawmakers that he personally visited the outdoor rally site in Butler and climbed onto the roof of a nearby building from which Crooks launched his attack. “What I saw made me ashamed,” Rowe confessed to a joint hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Judiciary Committees. “As a career law enforcement officer, and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.” Rowe assured lawmakers that he has implemented measures to prevent similar incidents, acknowledging the heightened concerns among both Democrats and Republicans regarding further political violence as the election approaches.
Prior to the assassination attempt, Crooks flew a drone near the rally site, a flight that officials failed to detect due to malfunctions in a drone detection system caused by cellular network bandwidth issues, Rowe explained. Since the July 13 attack, the Secret Service, responsible for protecting the president and other top officials, has added six individuals to its protection list, including Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance and his family, as well as independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, while bolstering security protocols.
“This attack was a shocking reminder that the threat of political violence is alive and well in our country. By all accounts, this was inexcusable security, and planning failure,” Democratic Senate Homeland Security Chairman Gary Peters stated. Peters confirmed that his panel is actively working on reforms to enhance security protocols for the Secret Service.
Senator Rand Paul, the committee’s leading Republican, revealed that his staff had discovered communication gaps between local police, who initially observed Crooks, and the Secret Service. Rowe confirmed that Secret Service counter snipers and members of Trump’s security detail were unaware of the gunman’s presence on the nearby building’s roof. The attempted assassination is currently under investigation by various entities, including House and Senate committees, as well as a new bipartisan task force.
