Would-Be Trump Assassin Had Encrypted Messaging Accounts On Platforms In 3 Foreign Countries, GOP Rep Says

The 20-year-old man who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, used encrypted messaging accounts on platforms in multiple foreign countries, according to Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL).

Waltz, who is on the Congressional task force investigating the assassination attempt, told reporters in Chicago on Wednesday that it has not “learned that much” about Thomas Matthew Crooks’ encrypted messaging accounts, but he did reveal that they discovered the accounts were based on platforms in Belgium, Germany, and New Zealand, which the congressman described as strange, The New York Post reported. Encrypted messaging apps allow for text messages to be sent through an encrypted code that can only be deciphered by the recipient’s device.

“Why does a 19-year-old kid who is a health care aide need encrypted platforms not even based in the United States, but based abroad, where most terrorist organizations know it is harder for our law enforcement to get into? That’s a question I’ve had since day one,” Waltz told reporters at the Trump Hotel in downtown Chicago.

Waltz, a retired Green Beret, then ripped the FBI and Secret Service for not releasing more information from the investigations into the attempted assassination.

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“They need to be releasing information as they come across it because this wasn’t an isolated incident,” he said. “The threats are continually Iran’s threats.”

Before the assassination attempt, U.S. authorities were informed by a source that there was an Iranian plot to kill Trump, CNN reported. The Biden administration reportedly told the Trump campaign and Secret Service of the alleged plot, but the troubling intelligence info raised new concerns about the security breakdown at Trump’s rally. Iran “strongly” rejected it had any role in the Trump assassination attempt, adding that it “is determined to pursue legal action against Trump for his direct role in the crime of assassinating Martyr General Qassem Soleimani.”

Trump responded to Iran’s alleged plot to assassinate him, writing on Truth Social, “If they do ‘assassinate President Trump,’ which is always a possibility, I hope that America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth — If that does not happen, American Leaders will be considered ‘gutless’ cowards!”

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Late last month, the House revealed its 13-member task force appointed to investigate the Trump assassination attempt. It is made up of seven Republicans and six Democrats. The House and Senate have also grilled leaders of the Secret Service and the FBI over security failures at the July 13 Trump rally.

Crooks accessed a roof just 130 yards from where Trump stood on stage. The would-be assassin fired eight shots, one of which struck Trump in his right ear. Another bullet hit and killed Trump supporter and firefighter Corey Comperatore. Two other rallygoers, David Dutch and James Copenhaver, were also struck by the gunfire and injured.