Trump’s would-be assassin’s father called 911 looking for son hours after shooting: ‘We’re kind of worried’
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(NEW YORK) — The father of Thomas Matthew Crooks, Donald Trump’s would-be assassin, called police out of concern for his missing son hours after the July 13 shooting occurred in Butler, Pennsylvania, newly obtained audio revealed.
At 10:56 p.m., nearly five hours after Trump was shot, Matthew Crooks called 911, worried because his son had gone radio silent since mid-afternoon, he explained.
“Hi, yes. Uh, my name is Matthew Crooks – I was calling in regards to my son, Thomas. Uh, he belongs to the Clairton Sportsman Club.”
“The reason I’m calling is he left the house here at about a quarter to two this afternoon, and we’ve gotten no contact from him, no text messages, nothing’s been returned, and he’s not home yet. That’s totally not like him. So we’re kind of worried, not really sure what we should do,” Crooks Sr. said, his voice steady but sounding slightly tense.
The recording of the call was obtained by ABC News via a records request from Allegheny County, where the Crooks family home is located.
Matthew Crooks also mentioned his son is 20 years old.
The call audio cuts off in the dispatcher’s mid-sentence as she confirmed the timeframe when the family last heard from their son.
Thomas Matthew Crooks allegedly fired as many as eight rounds from a rooftop 200-300 yards away, shooting Trump in the ear, killing one spectator and injuring two others. According to an intelligence bulletin from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, Crooks bought 50 rounds of ammunition from a local gun store on the day of the shooting. Two improvised explosive devices were found in his car and another in his home, according to the bulletin.
From the time he fired his first shot to the gunman being killed was just 26 seconds, according to law enforcement officials. Eleven seconds after the first shot, Secret Service counter snipers acquired their target — and 15 seconds after that, Crooks was shot dead.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump, after rejecting House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to avoid a government shutdown, worked the phones on Thursday, showing wavering confidence in Johnson and claiming he is aligned with billionaire Elon Musk, who first posted multiple calls to kill the GOP-brokered spending deal.
“If the speaker acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats, which will economically and, in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain speaker,” Trump told Fox News Digital.
In an separate interview, Trump suggested that Johnson’s proposed continuing resolution — which would keep spending going at current levels — was “unacceptable.”
“We’ll see. What they had yesterday was unacceptable,” Trump told NBC News. “In many ways it was unacceptable. It’s a Democrat trap.”
Trump also indicated that he had discussed his views on the bill with social media giant Musk and granted the billionaire permission to trash the government spending bill on his social media platform.
“I told him that if he agrees with me, that he could put out a statement,” Trump said.
Musk then conducted an all-out pressure campaign flooding his platform with dozens of posts threatening members of Congress to block Johnson’s government funding bill.
“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk wrote.
Musk also called on his more than 200 million followers to call their representatives and urge them to block the bill. “Please call your elected representatives right away to tell them how you feel! They are trying to get this passed today while no one is paying attention.”
Trump’s own statement opposing the measure came hours after Musk put his thoughts on his social media platform.
Trump, too, argued against the bill and threatened to primary Republicans who vote to pass it.
“If Republicans try to pass a clean Continuing Resolution without all of the Democrat “bells and whistles” that will be so destructive to our Country, all it will do, after January 20th, is bring the mess of the Debt Limit into the Trump Administration,” Trump said in a post on Wednesday.
“Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried. Everything should be done, and fully negotiated, prior to my taking Office on January 20th, 2025.”
The next morning, Trump shared a similar sentiment with Fox News Digital, saying, “Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible.”
ABC News’ Soorin Kim and Will Steakin contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump posted a flurry of announcements to his Truth Social account on Tuesday night, including the appointment of Kimberly Guilfoyle as the ambassador to Greece and Tom Barrack as the ambassador to Turkey.
Guilfoyle, a former fundraiser for Trump and a former host on Fox News, is currently in an established relationship with Donald Trump Jr.
In announcing her position, Trump wrote, “For many years, Kimberly has been a close friend and ally. Her extensive experience and leadership in law, media, and politics along with her sharp intellect make her supremely qualified to represent the United States, and safeguard its interests abroad.”
The post also stated, “Kimberly is perfectly suited to foster strong bilateral relations with Greece, advancing our interests on issues ranging from defense cooperation to trade and economic innovation.”
Tom Barrack is Trump’s longtime friend who chaired his first inaugural committee — and he was notably acquitted of federal charges accusing him of illegal foreign lobbying on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.
Barrack was charged during the first Trump administration and campaign, in 2021. During his trial, he was accused by federal prosecutors of acting as a foreign agent but failing to register between 2016 and 2018 while allegedly trying to “leverage his access” to Trump with his contacts in the UAE.
A jury found him not guilty on all charges — which also included conspiracy, obstruction and lying to the FBI — in November 2022.
Trump praised Barrack’s acquittal at the time, saying in a statement: “Great news for our Country, Freedom, and Democracy in that businessman Tom Barrack, who should have never been charged or tried, was just acquitted of all charges.”
Barrack’s testimony during the trial was at times critical of Trump. He said on the witness stand that his support for Trump politically was “disastrous” for him professionally, at one point mocking Trump’s understanding of the Middle East.
“This amazingly good businessman became the president of the United States who could not spell the Middle East,” Barrack said.
Asked about his criticism of Trump at the time of the acquittal, Barrack told ABC News: “I’m just done with politics.”
In announcing his ambassadorship to Turkey on Tuesday, Trump said that Barrack is “a well respected and experienced voice of reason.”
The president-elect also announced roles at the Federal Trade Commission. He named Andrew Ferguson as chairman and Mark Meador as commissioner.
“Andrew has a proven record of standing up to Big Tech censorship, and protecting Freedom of Speech in our Great Country. Sworn in as a Commissioner on April 2, 2024, he will be able to fight on behalf of the American People on Day One of my Administration,” Trump wrote in his announcement.
The post continued, “Andrew will be the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History.”
For Meador, Trump listed a series of degrees and accomplishments in the announcement post.
At the Office of Management and Budget, Trump announced Congressman Dan Bishop as deputy director and Ed Martin as the chief of staff.
For Bishop, he posted, “Dan has been a tireless fighter for our MAGA Movement in the House of Representatives on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees. Dan will implement my cost-cutting and deregulatory agenda across all Agencies, and root out the Weaponized Deep State.”
“Ed is a winner who will help Make America Great Again!” he wrote for Martin.
Lastly, Trump announced that Jacob Helberg will serve as undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment at the State Department.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump said, “In this role Jacob will be a champion of our America First Foreign Policy. He will guide State Department policy on Economic statecraft, promoting America’s Economic security and growth, and American technological dominance abroad. Jacob is a successful technology executive, has the knowledge, expertise, and pragmatism to defend America’s Economic interests abroad, and always puts AMERICA FIRST!”
Helberg is a former Democrat who went from being a little-known tech adviser to a rising star in Trump’s circles, known largely as a China hawk and as a major proponent of the bill that may lead to banning TikTok in the U.S.
He’s a commissioner for the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission, and he helped shore support on Capitol Hill for the bill that would ban TikTok if it’s not sold from its Chinese parent company by Jan. 19, 2025.
After Biden signed the TikTok bill into law earlier this year, Helberg posted photos of himself with several powerful members of Congress, including Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, thanking them for being “truly outstanding people who can come together when our security is at stake.”
Helberg called TikTok a “Chinese weapon of war” in August, and he previously published a book titled, “The Wires of War.” The 2021 book is about tech-fueled wars shaping the world’s balance of power in the coming century, arguing that “without a firm partnership with the government, Silicon Valley is unable to protect democracy from the autocrats looking to sabotage it from Beijing to Moscow and Tehran.”
Helberg’s harsh criticism of TikTok could clash with Trump’s vow to “save” TikTok, even though Trump tried to ban the app during his first administration.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance “have laid out an aggressive agenda to face the twin convulsions of technological and geopolitical change, and ensure America wins the economic contests that define this century,” Helberg wrote on X after Trump announced his appointment on Tuesday.
“The State Department will play a critical role in acting on this vision,” his post continued. “I look forward to earning the support of the U.S. Senate and working with @MarcoRubio to implement President Trump’s agenda.”
In previous years, Helberg and his husband were “significant supporters” of Ron DeSantis and then reportedly shifted fundraising support to Nikki Haley in 2023.
By midway through the following year, however, Helberg had personally contributed $844,600 to the Trump 47 Committee, Inc. and another $1 million to the Make America Great Again, Inc. super PACs, according to filing data made available by the FEC.
(PHOENIX) — President Joe Biden in Arizona on Friday apologized to Native Americans for the federal government forcing their children into boarding schools where he said they were abused and deprived of their cultural identity.
“For Indigenous peoples, they served as places of trauma and terror for more than 100 years. Tens of thousands of Indigenous children, as young as four years old were taken from their families and communities and forced into boarding schools run by the U.S. government and religious institutions,” he said.
“Nearly 1000 documented Native child deaths, though the real number is likely to be much, much higher. Lost generations, culture and language. Lost trust. It’s horribly, horribly wrong. It’s a sin on our soul,” he continued.
“I formally apologize as president of United States of America for what we did,” he said, emphatically. “I formally apologize!”
The White House had called his trip to Gila River Indian Community outside Phoenix — his first to Indian Country as president — “historic.”
Beforehand, officials said he would discuss the Biden-Harris administration’s record of delivering for tribal communities, including keeping his promise to visit the swing state, which is happening close to Election Day.
“The president also believes that to usher in the next era of the Federal-Tribal relationships we need to fully acknowledge the harms of the past,” the White House said.
“For over 150 years, the federal government ran boarding schools that forcibly removed generations of Native children from their homes to boarding schools often far away. Native children at these schools endured physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and, as detailed in the Federal Indian Boarding School Investigative Report by the Department of the Interior (DOI), at least 973 children died in these schools,” the White House said.
“The federally-run Indian boarding school system was designed to assimilate Native Americans by destroying Native culture, language, and identity through harsh militaristic and assimilationist methods,” it said.
