Donald Trump's attempted assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, posted a chilling warning on a gaming platform before shooting the former president. U.S. Senators were informed that the 20-year-old gunman had written on Steam: "July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds," according to DailyMail.com.
On July 13, Crooks opened fire on the Republican nominee from a rooftop just 130 yards away from the rally stage in Butler, Pennsylvania. Senators were also told that investigators found searches related to Trump, President Joe Biden, and the timing of the Democratic National Convention. Crooks also searched for details about the July 13 rally where he later carried out the shocking assassination attempt.
Warning Fell into Deaf Ears
The FBI also found that Crooks had two cell phones, with the second one found at his home containing just 27 contacts. Senators were also told that Secret Service personnel spotted Crooks 10 minutes before he appeared onstage — a full 20 minutes before he fired his first shot.
Sources told the Daily Mail that more than an hour elapsed from the time Crooks was first seen by the Secret Service to when he fired his initial shots. Even more concerning, counter snipers observed Crooks on the roof 20 minutes before he shot at the former president.
At 5:52 p.m., Crooks was identified as "suspicious" by the counter snipers on the roof. Trump took the stage at 6:02 p.m. and approximately 10 minutes later, around 6:12 p.m., Crooks began shooting.
"That's an crazy amount of time they allowed to pass before taking action," a source commented.
Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, confirmed this sequence of events in a tweet on Wednesday afternoon.
"They had identified the shooter as 'suspicious' a full 19 minutes before the shooting," he wrote. Lee mentioned that senators were limited to asking four questions during the briefing, which he criticized as abruptly cutting the call short.
Casual Handling of Situation
Compounding the situation, officials in the briefing did not provide any explanation for the delay in their response.
Senators Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and John Barrasso, R-Wyo., raised concerns during the third night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, regarding the handling of the incident.
"This was an assassination attempt. You owe the people answers. You owe President Trump answers," Blackburn said in a video of the confrontation posted on X.
According to the source, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was unaware of how Crooks gained access to the roof.
During the call, there were also questions raised about Crooks' possible motive for committing the heinous act.
Officials did not confirm a definitive motive and stated that his reasons remain unclear. They indicated that they have not found any ideological materials that could explain why Crooks chose to shoot the former president.
However, they disclosed that Crooks maintained multiple accounts on encrypted platforms, which they are currently attempting to access, the source added.
"He was identified as a character of suspicion because [he had] a rangefinder as well as a backpack. And this was over an hour before the shooting actually occurred," Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said on Fox News Wednesday afternoon.
"So, you would think over the course of that hour, you shouldn't lose sight of the individual."
"Somebody ought to be following up on those sorts of things. No evidence of that happening at all."
