FBI Tracks Trump Shooter Posting Violent Content

Donald Trump/PHOTO via Instagram @realdonaldtrump

JAKARTA - The man who tried to kill Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was tracked down by content of antisemitism violence (enmity to Jews) and online antimigrants as teenagers.

FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate in a hearing in the US Senate revealed the existence of the social media account in the period 2019-2020, when Thomas Crooks, the shooter, was 15 or 16 years old.

This is one of the first publicly known evidence of a possible motive for the July 13 attack on Trump's campaign in western Pennsylvania.

"Something that was recently revealed and I want to share is a social media account believed to be related to the shooter in the 2019-2020 period," Abbate told lawmakers, citing more than 700 comments uploaded by the account.

"Some of these comments, if eventually linked to the shooter, seem to reflect the theme of antisemitism and antimigrants supporting political violence and are described as extreme action," Abbate said.

20-year-old Crooks shot Trump with an AR-15 rifle in a general meeting campaign in Butler, Pennsylvania to the ears of the former president.

The Secret Service sniper shot dead Crooks after he opened fire.

Meanwhile, the acting new director of the United States (US) Secret Service admitted to being "malrified" by the security failures that occurred before the attempted assassination of Republican candidate Donald Trump on July 13 during a campaign in Pennsylvania.

testimony released before addressing two Senate committees, Acting Secret Service Ronald Rowe said he visited the location of Butler's general meeting campaign.

Rowe climbed onto the roof of the building near where Thomas Crooks fired a shot that injured Trump's right ear.

"What I saw embarrassed me," Rowe said in testimony prepared for a joint hearing of the Senate Domestic Security and Justice Committee.

"As a law enforcement officer, and a 25-year veteran at the Secret Service, I can't defend why the roof wasn't properly secured," he added, Tuesday, July 30.

Rowe's striking acknowledgment of security flaws came after Secret Service boss Kimberly Cheatle stepped down under pressure from Congress after refusing to elaborate on the security shortage in his testimony before parliamentary panels.

Rowe tried to convince lawmakers she had taken steps to prevent similar irregularities amid concerns among Democrats and Republicans over further political violence as the campaign intensified ahead of the US elections on November 5.

"I direct our personnel to ensure any security plans for the location of the event are thoroughly inspected by some experienced researchers before being implemented," said Rowe.