Donald Trump ’s would-be assassin posted a chilling final message on social media where he warned about his dark plans for the day of his deadly attack, it has been revealed.
“July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds,” Thomas Matthew Crooks wrote on the online gamer platform Steam, according to Fox News.
The dark message was revealed to Senate and House lawmakers on Wednesday during a briefing with FBI and Secret Service officials as authorities continue to learn more about the 20-year-old gunman and his movements in the lead-up to the assassination attempt .
On July 13, Crooks headed to the site of Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, armed with an AR-15 rifle that his father had legally purchased.
After scaling the roof of a building just outside the security perimeter, but only around 150 yards from the podium where the Republican presidential candidate took to the stage, Crooks opened fire.
Trump was struck in the ear before ducking behind the podium and being rushed by Secret Service agents, who threw their bodies over his.
Three rallygoers were also shot, one fatally.
Crooks had been researching both Trump and President Joe Biden online prior to the attack and had images of the two rivals as well as other political figures including Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Trump ally Rudy Giuliani and Fulton County DA Fani Willis on his cellphones, the FBI officials revealed in the briefing.
The gunman’s two cellphones also revealed searches for the dates of Trump’s public events as well as for the Democratic National Convention, the August event where the Democratic party will officially crown its presidential and vice presidential nominees.
He had also visited the rally site twice after it was announced by the Trump campaign – the second visit taking place on the day of the shooting.
While searches of his cellphones and the home he shared with his parents have revealed new information about the gunman, there is one major thing that investigators continue to be stumped by: his motive.
Crooks had no criminal history and was not known to law enforcement before Saturday.
Online records reveal that he had been registered to vote as a Republican. Former high school classmates have described his views as “slightly right leaning” though they couldn’t recall him ever speaking up with strong political views. Yet, federal campaign finance reports show that Crooks also made a $15 contribution to a Democratic-aligned political action committee called Progressive Turnout Project on January 20, 2021.
To date, investigators have uncovered no “political or ideological information” at the shooter ’s home and no signs that he had strong political views that contributed to the attack, FBI officials reportedly told lawmakers.
Now, one potential line of investigation is focusing on the gunman’s mental health, with lawmakers revealing that he had searched for “major depressive disorder” on one of his cellphones.
Wednesday’s briefing came as calls continue to mount for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to quit over the agency’s response to the shooting, after it emerged that the gunman had been spotted acting suspiciously multiple times at the rally site in the hours and minutes before the attack.
In an especially testy exchange, Cheatle was confronted by GOP lawmakers on the floor of the RNC on Wednesday night demanding answers about what had gone wrong.
Footage, posted online by Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, shows the group of senators grilling her and chasing her through the auditorium in Milwaukee.
“You put him within less than an inch of his life,” Wyoming Senator John Barrasso shouted at her. “Resignation or full explanation.”
Lawmakers and officials told ABC News that Crooks was first identified by law enforcement at 5.10pm – over an hour before the shooting unfolded.
Then, 20 minutes before he opened fire, Secret Service snipers had spotted him on the roof.
Despite this, no action was taken until he fired his first shots toward the former president.
Cheatle, who has been called to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, admitted in an interview with CNN that the “buck stops with me” over the events that day but has so far refused to bow down to calls to resign.
Trump, who has described his survival as a “miracle” and claimed that it has given him a new focus to seek “unity” for the US, is poised to give his first speech since the attempt on his life at the RNC on Thursday night.
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