New footage of Thomas Crooks, the would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump, in Butler, Pennsylvania, has surfaced, depicting him walking around the rally site approximately two hours before the attempted shooting. Additionally, he supposedly had encrypted messaging accounts with people in Belgium, Germany, and New Zealand, making Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL) skeptical of the FBI's repeated insistence that Crooks acted alone in a recent appearance on Fox News's America's Newsroom.
Rep. Waltz, who sits on the bipartisan task force investigating the assassination attempt, said that despite multiple briefings with the FBI and Secret Service, "it is shocking how little we know. They still are not ready to talk about Crooks' motivation. They have not been able to get into all of those encrypted accounts yet."
Despite this, the Florida Congressman noted, "In the same breath, they are very quick to say he acted alone. How did he build those [improvised explosive devices] and not trigger any type of alerts with a remote detonator that was fully functional? How was he able to establish those encrypted accounts, and why? What were they doing?"
Rep. Waltz further noted that Pakistani national Asif Merchant, an illegal alien who entered the country in April, was arrested for plotting an attempt on Trump's life on behalf of Iran, up to the point that he "put a down payment on hitmen, [was] recruiting spotters, [and was] recruiting protesters as a distraction."
While no connection has been made between Crooks and Merchant, Waltz remained skeptical of the insistence that the former acted alone, saying, "I do not see how they are coming to that conclusion so quickly, given that in the same briefings, they are saying 'We still do not have very much information on him."
Representative Cory Mills (R-FL), a fellow combat veteran who has been conducting his own independent investigation, has chillingly stated that "we have determined that we have waited so long that the idea of determining and making it distinguishable from gross negligence or criminal negligence from purposeful intent is going to be almost impossible."
