The gunman who nearly killed former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last month used encrypted messaging accounts on multiple platforms based in Belgium, New Zealand and Germany, according to a congressional lawmaker appointed to a select congressional committee investigating the assassination attempt.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), a former Green Beret who was appointed to a 13-person bipartisan House task force investigating the assassination attempt on President Trump, spoke about the case to reporters at the Trump Hotel in Chicago on Wednesday.
A reporter asked Waltz about what he and other task force members learned during the investigation and about the encrypted messages on the shooter’s cellphone.
Trump shooting: A timeline of the assassination attempt
House lawmakers on the committee investigating the assassination attempt on President Trump said the suspected shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, had encrypted accounts on messaging apps based in Germany, Belgium and New Zealand.
“There’s a lot we still don’t know. We don’t know much about the overseas accounts,” he said, referring to accounts held by attempted assassin Thomas Matthew Crookes. “If I understand correctly, we know those accounts were in Belgium, New Zealand and Germany.”
“Why would a 19-year-old working as a paramedic need an encrypted platform based not in the United States but overseas, where most terrorist organizations know it will be difficult for U.S. law enforcement to penetrate? That’s a question I’ve had since day one.”
Lawmakers then turned their attention to the FBI and Secret Service, blasting them for not saying anything until their investigations were complete months later.
“This is not an isolated incident and Iran needs to disclose information as it becomes available,” Waltz said. “The Iranian threat continues.”
FBI says Trump assassination attempt came from ‘careful planning’ and involved scouting rally location
Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz said he has learned that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Trump, held encrypted accounts overseas. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Waltz then mentioned an allegedly thwarted plot involving Pakistanis paying hit men to kill President Trump and other U.S. government officials.
The New York Post reports that the FBI is set to brief members of the task force on Wednesday, and Walz said he hopes the report will provide insight into “egregious deficiencies” in the security arrangements for the Trump campaign event at Butler on July 13, 2024.
The FBI and Secret Service are conducting their own investigations into the assassination attempt, as is the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.
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On the night of the rally, Crooks opened fire on the main stage, grazing Trump by the ear, killing rally-goers Corey Comperatore, 50, and wounding David Duch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 54.
