Claim:
Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old man who attempted to assassinate former U.S. President Donald Trump, once donated money to a political action committee aligned with the Democratic Party.
Rating:
True ( About this rating? )
Following the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump on July 13, 2024, reporters and online sleuths scoured public records to see whether they could infer the shooter's motive.
With that digging, two seemingly conflicting rumors emerged about the 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks. First, he was supposedly registered to vote as a Republican. (Snopes confirmed the legitimacy of that claim in a separate fact check.) Second, he had allegedly donated money to a Democratic-leaning political action committee on the day President Joe Biden took his oath of office, Jan. 20, 2021.
That latter assertion also was true. Crooks, who was shot dead by law enforcement after opening fire at the Trump rally, indeed donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a PAC that aims to get Democrats to vote, according to Federal Election Commission. The record shows the donation occurred on Jan. 20, 2021.
That said, some social media users claimed a 69-year-old Pittsburgh man with the same name as Trump's would-be assassin — Thomas Crooks — had actually made that donation.
Several X users made that argument with copy-and-pasted text began, "Another MAGA talking point down the drain."
The argument rested, largely, on two facts: that an older, unrelated Thomas Crooks with a connection to the city of Pittsburgh existed, and that the in-question FEC records listed Pittsburgh as the donor's city.
Based on a search of public records, it is true that several individuals, including a 69-year-old man, named "Thomas Crooks" have or have had a connection to Pittsburgh. However, there was no evidence connecting these individuals to the in-question $15 donation to the Democratic-leaning PAC; the FEC filing lists a street address and ZIP code that don't exist in Pittsburgh.
However, when looking at the FEC filing for the donation, nearly every field was an exact match to the other Thomas Crooks — Trump's would-be assassin. In particular, that Thomas Crooks lived in Bethel Park, a Pittsburgh suburb . Authorities confirmed that the shooter was from Bethel Park, and voter registration records , among other things, provide his specific address.
The donation to the Progressive Turnout Project was made through ActBlue , which is another Democratic PAC that serves as a fundraising platform. Many political groups and campaigns use ActBlue for fundraising. As a result, FEC records show such donations as contributions to ActBlue, with notes indicating the specific target of the money. In this case, the note said, " earmarked for Progressive Turnout Project."
The full address associated with the donation appears within a February 2021 FEC document ( page 189,746 ) listing all of Act Blue's donations during the previous month. That street address and ZIP code match the home of the shooter, according to a public records search and photos of police searching the home.
Considering that address match, and the fact that the location on the in-question FEC filing does not exist in Pittsburgh, evidence favors the conclusion that the shooter made the donation — not someone else with the same name.
Sources:
FBI Statement on Incident in Butler, Pennsylvania. 14 July 2024, https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-statement-on-incident-in-butler-pennsylvania .
Gold, Michael, et al. "Trump Is Safe After Assassination Attempt; Suspected Gunman Is Dead." The New York Times, 13 July 2024. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/14/us/trump-shooting-news-biden .
How Somerville's ActBlue Revolutionized American Politics - The Boston Globe. 15 May 2017, https://web.archive.org/web/20170515115711/http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2017/05/09/how-somerville-actblue-revolutionized-american-politics/Vev2sgidKycWKePKcmg65N/story.html .
PAGE BY PAGE REPORT DISPLAY FOR 202102049425215728 (Page 189746 of 1812450). https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202102049425405473. Accessed 15 July 2024.
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