Thomas Matthew Crooks’ motivation for attempting to assassinate Donald Trump is still unknown and Rep. Mike Waltz says he is worried a foreign entity or other third-party was involved in the attack.
Waltz told DailyMail.com that he doesn’t know how federal law enforcement can confidently say that Crooks was acting alone if they can’t answer other questions like why he had foreign encrypted messaging accounts.
The 20-year-old was also able to create multiple explosives with remote detonators, another thing that raises Waltz’s eyebrows and makes him question whether Crooks was working alone.
And as the FBI, U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and Department of Homeland Security conduct their investigations into the massive security failure, Waltz joins 12 others lawmakers on the House task force also looking into the attempted assassination of Trump.
Rep. Mike Waltz is on the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump and told DailyMail.com on Wednesday that he isn’t convinced shooter Matthew Thomas Crooks was acting alone
Thomas Matthew Crooks pictured at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 before he opened fire on the crowd and former president
‘I don’t understand, and I don’t have any answers yet to help me understand how the [Secret] Service and DHS came out so quickly and said – and I think the FBI as well, but I’ll have to check that – and said, he operated alone,’ Waltz said when speaking with DailyMail.com at Trump Tower in Chicago on Wednesday. ‘How do you know that mere days into your investigation?’
‘You can’t tell us his motive, but you could tell us he operated alone?’ the Florida Republican questioned. ‘You can’t get into these encrypted overseas accounts, but you can tell us he acted alone?’
‘So, I don’t buy that yet.’
Crooks was shot and killed by the Secret Service after he launched an attack on Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
But not before one bullet from his AR-style weapon, bought legally by his father, grazed the former president’s right ear. And Crooks killed one rally goer and critically injured two others before he was taken out.
The FBI also found explosives in Crooks’ car, which was parked near the rally site. And upon raiding his parents’ house, where he lived, they found more bombs.
‘I don’t know of many 19-year-old kids who could make multiple IEDs with a remote detonator on their own,’ Waltz told DailyMail.com. ‘Why didn’t that get picked up if he’s searching that online or buying literature on how to do that?’
Crooks, 20, was shot dead on site by U.S. Secret Service after he killed a rally goer, critical injured two other supporters and was able to barely graze the side of Trump’s ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13
Trump took a bullet to his ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. With blood streaked across his face, Secret Service agents corralled the former president off the stage
Waltz said ‘the more we get into it, the more questions I have.’
He also said that he was joining later on Wednesday a briefing by the FBI, where he was hoping more questions would be answered – but he didn’t seem optimistic.
Rep. Waltz says while federal agencies and congressional committees are scrutinizing the USSS over the attempted assassination, there are more concerning details emerging that make the attack even more ominous.
For example, the revelation that Iran was also plotting an attempt to take out former President Trump around the same time that Crooks carried out his assassination ploy.
‘It’s really what’s coming out around it that is so disturbing,’ Waltz said.
‘And for me, the thing that’s most disturbing is that we have ongoing plots from Iran to take out a former president, leading candidate, and that a Pakistani national was just arrested after making a down payment for hitmen, and it’s barely even being covered in the news.’