Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

FBI links man who shot Trump to antisemitic, anti-immigrant comments on social media

Law enforcement discovered a social media account believed to be associated with Thomas Crooks

The FBI has discovered a social media account “believed to be associated” with the man who shot former President Donald Trump earlier this month that includes antisemitic and anti-immigrant comments.

“Something just very recently uncovered that I want to share is a social media account, which is believed to be associated with this with the shooter – in about the 2019, 2020 timeframe,” FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said at a hearing Tuesday of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees.

Abbate said the comments, which he described as “extreme,” also espoused political violence.

“No one should be surprised,” said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and an expert on extremism-fueled violence.

Antisemitism and anti-immigrant hate are deeply intertwined. And research shows that belief in such conspiracy theories is inextricably linked to willingness to support or engage in political violence.”

The hearing was the fourth on Capitol Hill since Thomas Crooks, 20, shot the Republican presidential nominee at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Since then law enforcement has struggled to establish a motive for the shooting.

Crooks was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper shortly after he shot at Trump, who was nicked in the ear. A rallygoer, a retired fire chief, was killed and two other people were wounded in the incident.

The gunman who killed 11 at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, who has been sentenced to death, left a trail of antisemitic and anti-immigrant writings online.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.