One of my kids was the first to bring it to my attention. “How come we know so much about this CEO-killing guy in just a few hours than we do about that guy who tried to kill Trump?” she remarked. Then, some of my colleagues pointed out the same thing. And then it went viral on social media.
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There are some legitimate reasons for this—the suspected killer of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, 26-year-old Ivy-leaguer Luigi Mangione—has a social media trail, reportedly wrote a manifesto, and has relatives and past acquaintances speaking out. Thomas Matthew Crooks, however, the would-be assassin whose rifle shot came within inches of ending then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s life at a Pennsylvania rally in July, was more of a cipher and left less of a footprint.
Related: WATCH: CEO Shooting Suspect Luigi Mangione Angrily Screams at Reporters
NEW: NYPD Officials Hold Press Conference, Suspect in UHC CEO Shooting Identified
But is that all that is at play here? People are asking questions:
And even as the Congressional task force on Crooks’ assassination attempt wrapped up its work last week, chairman Rep. Mike Kelly admitted to Meet the Press: ‘There’s so many missing pieces on this one … How could there be so many missing pieces?’
The unanswered questions and mysterious factors led some to draw comparisons between Crooks and Mangione.
Conservative commentator Greg Price led the charge, saying on X just hours after Mangione’s arrest: ‘We now know more about Luigi in five hours than we have learned about Thomas Crooks in 3 months.’
We now know more about Luigi in five hours than we have learned about Thomas Crooks in 3 months and this is one of the many reasons America needs Kash Patel at the FBI.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 9, 2024
The weird thing about the Crooks matter is that they cremated his body… a mere ten days after he almost changed history. (Arguably, he did change history, but he would have changed things even more profoundly had he succeeded in his evil plot.)
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The FBI’s role in the investigation of Crooks’ assassination attempt drew backlash in the weeks after the shooting, including its decision to cremate the gunman’s remains just 10 days later.
The cremation was revealed by Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins, who launched his own investigation into Crooks’ shooting after being frustrated by the probe.
Higgins, appointed to Congress’ bipartisan task force reviewing the assassination attempt, tried to view Crooks’ body on August 5, but said his request ’caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact’.
He wrote in his report at the time that he then learned that the FBI had ‘released the body for cremation 10 days’ after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
It gets stranger:
Higgins says ‘nobody knew’ that the body had been returned to the family, including the county coroner and local enforcement. He writes that the coroner still had ‘legal authority over the body’ when the FBI made this decision and accuses the agency of ‘obstruction’.
Trump Shooting Task Force leaders Mike Kelly and Jason Crow admit they never learned what motivated gunman Thomas Crooks, complain about the DOJ/FBI stonewalling them, and promise to continue investigating next Congress.
“If DOJ and FBI think they can wait us out and stonewall… pic.twitter.com/R2aT6g1W5i— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) December 9, 2024
“If DOJ and FBI think they can wait us out and stonewall us, they are wrong,” Crow said.
Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner also wondered why we know so little:
Meanwhile… why has the search for the truth vanished in silence on Donald Trump’s would-be assassin?
After 5 months we know LESS about the deceased Thomas Crooks who shot our nation’s 45th President in Butler, PA… than we know
in just a few hours since the arrest of the…— HARRISFAULKNER (@HARRISFAULKNER) December 9, 2024
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After 5 months we know LESS about the deceased Thomas Crooks who shot our nation’s 45th President in Butler, PA… than we know in just a few hours since the arrest of the man suspected of killing a healthcare CEO.
Change is a’ coming: REPORT: Christopher Wray Preparing Resignation As FBI Director
John Bolton’s Slam of Kash Patel Proves That President Trump Picked the Right Man to Lead the FBI
Many are hoping that Trump’s pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, who has held several national security positions and is considered a Trump loyalist, will shed some light on this issue and others and bring some badly needed transparency to the bureau.
In the meantime, we’re left to wonder, why don’t we know more about the young man who almost killed the now-president-elect of the United States?
