Andrew Torba, CEO of the social media site Gab, on Tuesday said the FBI's claims about an account being used by Donald Trump shooter Thomas Crooks are "not consistent" with an Emergency Disclosure Request received last week.
Torba also posted on X that the account for the data requested was "UNEQUIVOCALLY, pro-Biden and in particular pro-Biden's immigration policy."
"To the best of Gab's knowledge, as of 2021, Crooks was a pro-lockdown, pro-immigration, left-wing Joe Biden supporter," Torba said.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate, testifying Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that more than 700 comments were posted from the Gab account.
"The FBI is now claiming that the Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks had an unspecified "social media account" in 2019/2020 (when he was 14/15 years old) that posted "anti-immigrant and anti-semitic" content," Torba posted on X, along with an image of the request.
"This is not consistent with Gab's understanding of the shooter's motives based on an Emergency Disclosure Request ("EDR") we received from the FBI last week for the Gab account "EpicMicrowave" which, based on the content of that EDR, the FBI appeared to think belonged to Thomas Crooks," he added.
"Some of these comments, if ultimately attributable to the shooter, appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes to espouse political violence," said Abbate, calling the comments "extreme in nature."
FBI investigators are still working to verify the account and determine if it belonged to the shooter, Abbate added.
"We believe it is important to share and note it today, particularly given the general absence of other information to date from social media and other sources of information that reflect on the shooter's potential motive and mindset," he said. "These are the facts in part that the investigation has revealed to date. While the shooter is dead, our work is very much ongoing and urgent."
"Many, particularly regime media reporters, have doubted Gab's claims that this request existed," Torba responded. "Normally we don't confirm the existence or content of law enforcement communications. In this instance, we had to make an exception due to the overwhelming public interest in disclosure and transparency."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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