Rep. Mike Waltz says he isn’t convinced Donald Trump shooter Thomas Crooks acted alone in assassination attempt
Thomas Matthew Crooks may not have been acting alone when he tried to assassinate Donald Trump, one of the members of Congress investigating the shooting told Dailymail.com.
Republican Rep. Mike Waltz said the gunman’s motivation is still unknown and he is worried a foreign entity or other third-party could have been involved in the attack.
Waltz queried how federal law enforcement can confidently say Crooks was a lone wolf if they can’t answer other questions like why he had multiple foreign encrypted messaging accounts.
His comments came after it was revealed that Iran was also plotting an attempt on the former president’s life around the same time that Crooks carried out his plan.
‘The more we get into it, the more questions I have,’ Waltz said. ‘It’s really what’s coming out around it that is so disturbing.
‘And for me, the thing that’s most disturbing is that we have ongoing plots from Iran to take out a former president, leading candidate, and that a Pakistani national was just arrested after making a down payment for hitmen, and it’s barely even being covered in the news.’
Rep. Mike Waltz is on the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump and told DailyMail.com on Wednesday that he isn’t convinced shooter Matthew Thomas Crooks was acting alone
Moment Donald Trump is SHOT and left with blood strewn across face
Thomas Matthew Crooks pictured at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 before he opened fire on the crowd and former president
Thomas Crooks walking around Butler site before Trump shooting
How likely do you think it is that there was a broader conspiracy behind the assassination attempt?
Crooks, 20, was able to create multiple explosives with remote detonators, another thing that raised Waltz’s eyebrows and makes him wonder whether he had help.
As the FBI, U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and Department of Homeland Security conduct their investigations into the massive security failure, Waltz and 12 other lawmakers on a House task force are also looking into the attempted assassination.
‘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 when speaking with DailyMail.com at Trump Tower in Chicago on Wednesday. ‘How do you know that mere days into your investigation?’
The Florida congressman added: ‘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? So, I don’t buy that yet.’
Crooks was shot and killed by the Secret Service after he launched an attack at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
A bullet fired from his AR-style weapon, bought legally by his father, grazed the former president’s right ear.
Crooks killed one rally-goer and critically injured two others before he was taken out.
The FBI also found explosives in Crooks’ car, which was parked near the rally site. And upon raiding his parents’ house, where he lived, they found more bombs.
‘I don’t know of many 19-year-old kids who could make multiple IEDs with a remote detonator on their own,’ Waltz told DailyMail.com. ‘Why didn’t that get picked up if he’s searching that online or buying literature on how to do that?’
Crooks, 20, was shot dead on site by U.S. Secret Service after he killed a rally goer, critical injured two other supporters and was able to barely graze the side of Trump’s ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13
New video shows Trump fans pointing at shooter before he opened fire
Trump took a bullet to his ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. With blood streaked across his face, Secret Service agents corralled the former president off the stage
He also said that he was joining later on Wednesday a briefing by the FBI, where he was hoping more questions would be answered – but he didn’t seem optimistic.
Rep. Waltz says while federal agencies and congressional committees are scrutinizing the USSS over the attempted assassination, there are more concerning details emerging that make the attack even more ominous.
That includes the revelation of the Iranian plot to assassinate Trump around the same time as the Crooks attempt.
Crooks had encrypted messaging accounts on platforms based in Germany, Belgium, and New Zealand.
Butler cops say they told Secret Service to station guys on roof
Waltz said: ‘We still haven’t learned a lot, we haven’t learned that much about those overseas accounts.
‘Why does a 19-year-old kid who is a healthcare 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 added: ‘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.’
