The teenage shooter who killed an innocent bystander and nearly killed former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally used foreign encrypted messaging accounts, according to a congressional House member.
Rep Mike Waltz, R-Fla., spoke to reporters on Wednesday from the Trump Hotel Chicago and said Crooks' overseas account immediately raised questions about his motives for carrying out the shooting.
"Why does a 19-year-old kid who is a healthcare aid 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?" the New York Post reported Waltz asking.
"That’s a question I’ve had since day one," Waltz added. Crooks had established messaging accounts based in Belgium, New Zealand, and Germany the House investigation has established.
Waltz is 1 of 13 members of the bipartisan task force assigned with investigating the assassination attempt on Trump. On July 13, Thomas Crooks, 20, fired eight shots at Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. One of the shots struck Corey Comperatore in the head as he attempted to shield his wife and daughters from the gunfire.
Crooks also critically wounded James Copenhaver, 74, and David Dutch, a 57-year-old Marine veteran.
Waltz went on to question the pacing in which the intel agencies are distributing their findings. "They need to be releasing information as they come across it, because this wasn’t an isolated incident. The threats are continual," Waltz said in reference to another assassination plot by a Pakistani national against Trump.
The U.S. Department of Justice did not specifically name Trump in their official statement in the murder-for-hire plot instead saying "a politician or U.S. government official."
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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