US President Donald Trump on Tuesday addressed the investigation progress into last year’s assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, after a reporter questioned the lack of public information about the shooter. The reporter drew a parallel to the recent Coldplay concert kiss-cam controversy, noting that within hours, the identities and details of a CEO and HR executive involved went viral- while over a year later, little is known about the would-be assassin.Trump claimed that federal investigators have found “nothing abnormal” in their probe of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, and that the incident was the result of a lone “nut job” acting alone.The US President was responding to the question asked- “We know more about two people at a Coldplay concert, just hours after that viral video, than we know about Thomas Crooks — one year attempting to assassinate you. What is holding back the investigation on Thomas Crooks?”In response Trump said, “Well, they’ve reported to me and they’ve told me things, and they really say they haven’t found anything that was abnormal.”“They say that it was just a nut job that was looking to do this,” he further said, adding that the Secret Service and FBI “went into him in great detail” and fully briefed him. “They gave me the whole thing, and what can I do?”While Trump commended agents and officers for their bravery during the attack- recalling how they “jumped on me” during the chaos – he also pointed to key security failures. “The Secret Service was very brave because they, you know, they were right there and they jumped on me. They made a mistake. They should have had somebody on that roof, and they should have had communication with the local police, who also. I mean, they did a very good job, but they made some mistakes,” he said, referring to the sniper’s vantage point that allowed Crooks to fatally shoot one rallygoer and injure Trump before being killed by law enforcement.Trump also used the opportunity to draw a distinction between what he called the “new FBI” and the agency’s leadership under former Director James Comey. “If it was the old FBI, I wouldn’t have believed a thing they said, because the old FBI under Comey was crooked as hell,” he said.Trump insisted that security had since been overhauled: “We have a whole different group of people now… I think we have the best people anywhere in the world right now. And I think they’ve learned.”This comes as many critics argue that despite the alarming nature of Crooks’ actions, the media has failed to give the story the sustained attention. As the first serious attempt on a US presidential candidate’s life since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981, Crooks case remains one of the most troubling and under-scrutinised political events in recent American history, they claim with going as far as to suggest some conspiracy in play.
What is known about Thomas Crooks so far?
Authorities identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the individual behind the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler last year. Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service agents moments after he allegedly opened fire at the stage where Trump was speaking.Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022, where he received a $500 “Star Award” from the National Math and Science Initiative, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. However, Crooks’ time in high school was also marked by isolation and erratic behavior. Classmates described him as a loner who often wore hunting gear to school and made disturbing remarks. Reports suggested he had tried and failed to join the school’s rifle team due to his poor marksmanship, according to the NY Post. “He was such a comically bad shot he was unable to make the team and left after the first day,” said Jameson Murphy, a former classmate. Another added, “He couldn’t shoot at all. He was a terrible shot.”
