In a shocking revelation, a senior FBI official has disclosed that the man who attempted to assassinate former Republican President Donald Trump had a history of posting violent antisemitic and anti-immigration content online.
The official made this revelation during a U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday.
According to The Jerusalem Post, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate unveiled the existence of a social media account dating back to 2019-2020, when the shooter, identified as Thomas Crooks, would have been 15 or 16 years old. This account is considered to be one of the first pieces of evidence indicating a potential motive behind the July 13 attack at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania.
Abbate shared with lawmakers, "Something just very recently uncovered that I want to share is a social media account which is believed to be associated with the shooter in about the 2019-2020 time frame." He further added that the account had more than 700 comments, some of which, if attributable to Crooks, "appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes to espouse political violence and are described as extreme in nature."
Crooks, 20, opened fire on Trump with an AR-15-style rifle during the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, injuring the former President's ear, killing one rally attendee, and wounding two others. The Secret Service snipers retaliated, killing Crooks on the spot. Investigators have portrayed Crooks as a loner with a limited social network, primarily consisting of immediate family members.
This incident, marking the first shooting of a US president or major party candidate in over four decades, exposed a significant security lapse, leading to the resignation of former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle under bipartisan congressional pressure.
Her successor, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, expressed his disappointment at the security lapse during a joint hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Judiciary Committees. "What I saw made me ashamed," Rowe confessed. "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 measures have been taken to prevent similar lapses in the future, especially with the intensifying political climate ahead of the November 5 US election. He revealed that Crooks had flown a drone near the rally site before his assassination attempt, which went undetected due to a malfunctioning drone detection system.
The Secret Service, tasked with protecting the president and other top political figures, has since added six people to its protection list, including Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance and his family, and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
Democratic Senate Homeland Security Chairman Gary Peters described the attack as a "shocking reminder that the threat of political violence is alive and well in our country."
He criticized the incident as an "inexcusable security and planning failure" and pledged that his panel is working on reforms to strengthen security protocols for the Secret Service.
Senator Rand Paul, the committee's top Republican, highlighted communication gaps between local police and the Secret Service. He revealed that Secret Service counter snipers and members of the Trump security detail were unaware of a man with a firearm on a nearby building's roof.
The attempted assassination is currently under investigation by multiple House and Senate committees, as well as a new bipartisan task force. These investigations aim to uncover the truth behind this shocking incident and ensure such a security lapse does not occur in the future.
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