Days after the chilling assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, disturbing new details have surfaced about the alleged gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks. Investigators have revealed that Crooks had twice scouted the rally location prior to the incident and had images of both Trump and President Joe Biden on his phone, though his motive remains unclear.
Crooks’ digital footprint, now under intense scrutiny, showed marked dates for the Democratic National Convention and several Trump events. However, the significance of these searches is still unknown, officials say.
A senior law enforcement official disclosed to The Daily Beast that Crooks’ final online search before the shooting was for pornography. This discovery was made after the FBI managed to unlock the 20-year-old’s encrypted Samsung phone.
Initially, agents at the Pittsburgh field office were unable to access the phone, which led to it being sent to Quantico for further examination. The only other recent activity on the device was a series of texts from Crooks’ parents, inquiring about his whereabouts.
“The last search Thomas Crooks made on his cell phone before attempting to assassinate Donald Trump was for pornography,” a senior law enforcement source told The Daily Beast.
The FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico uncovered this when they finally accessed Crooks’ phone. Previous attempts to crack the device at the Pittsburgh office had failed, prompting its transfer to Quantico via an FBI plane.
Aside from the web search, the phone revealed texts from Crooks’ parents, who believed he had taken his AR-style rifle to the shooting range. The FBI recovered the phone from Crooks’ body, alongside four rifle magazines and a remote control capable of detonating explosives found in his car. He was on the rooftop when he fired at Trump, who was on the stage below.
“By 6 pm he was dead,” the source said.
The FBI has now largely completed its examination of Crooks’ phone and is focusing on his laptop and several hard drives found in his bedroom.
Law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation shared with CNN that Crooks’ phone also contained numerous photos of politicians, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), and Rudy Giuliani. Most of these images appeared to be sourced from the internet, without any accompanying threats or messages.
Further searches on Crooks’ phone date back to the spring, showing a meticulous tracking of Trump rallies and major political conventions.
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