Congressman Reveals Foreign Links Found on Trump Shooter's Cellphone
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
The contents of Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks’s cell phone lead Republican Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida to fear that there are potential foreign connections to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Crooks wounded Trump and killed one rallygoer while wounding two others during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Walz is one member of a House task force looking into the incident along with multiple federal agencies.
On Aug. 21, he voiced frustration with what remains unknown about the contents of the shooter’s cell phone weeks after the shooting, according to Fox News.
“We still haven’t learned a lot. We haven’t learned that much about those overseas accounts. We do know that they were in, if I get this correctly, Belgium, New Zealand and Germany,” he said.
“Why does a 19-year-old kid who is a health care aide need encrypted platforms not even based in the United States, but based abroad, where most terrorist organizations know it is harder for our law enforcement to get into? That’s a question I’ve had since day one,” he said.
He said the FBI and Secret Service need to share information as their investigations progress, not hold it all until the end of the probes months from now.
“They need to be releasing information as they come across it, because this wasn’t an isolated incident. The threats are continually Iran’s threats,” he said, referring to reports that Iran has put a price on Trump’s head.
Waltz said there has not been enough evidence shared to back up the contention of federal agencies that Crooks acted alone, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
“I don’t understand, and I don’t have any answers yet to help me understand how the [Secret] Service and DHS came out so quickly and said — and I think the FBI as well, but I’ll have to check that — and said, he operated alone,” Waltz said .
“How do you know that mere days into your investigation?” he said.
“You can’t tell us his motive, but you could tell us he operated alone? You can’t get into these encrypted overseas accounts, but you can tell us he acted alone?” he said.
“So, I don’t buy that yet.”
Thomas Crooks’ phone yields no clues about motive for Trump assassination attempt — attention turns to his laptop: sources https://t.co/KuvdoBQwZN pic.twitter.com/Tizf7NzQci
— New York Post (@nypost) July 16, 2024
Walz said the fact that Crooks made two bombs is an indication of a need to dig deeper.
“I don’t know of many 19-year-old kids who could make multiple IEDs with a remote detonator on their own. Why didn’t that get picked up if he’s searching that online or buying literature on how to do that?” he said.
“The more we get into it, the more questions I have,” he said.
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